Pak Senator calls for investigation on reports about intelligence agencies 'shielding' terrorists

A Senator in Pakistan, Farhatullah Babar, has called for a probe on recent report that intelligence agencies were "shielding" terrorists in the country.

Babar submitted a call-to-attention notice in Senate regarding a recent report that intelligence agencies were "shielding" terrorists, the Dawn reported.

Babar's notice was based on a petition submitted in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) by an Intelligence Bureau (IB) employee and called Minister of Interior Ahsan Iqbal's attention towards this matter of sufficient and urgent public importance.

Citing circumstantial evidence to support the reports that some militants are being protected by some invisible forces, Babar noted that Maulana Masood Azhar, the head of the banned Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), "has repeatedly been protected from UN sanctions for unexplained reasons."

Highlighting another such instance, he said that the discovery of a "Pakistani national identity card and passport Mullah Mansoor Akhtar - who was killed in a drone strike in May last year - should have led to investigations into who is protecting the Taliban.

He also recalled the photographs of a banned militant leader appearing on the election posters of a candidate in the recent NA-120 by-elections had raised concern but the Interior Ministry did not do anything in this regard.

It is pertinent to mention here that dreaded terrorist Hafiz Saeed is tried his hands in politics and had put his stooge in an election fray in Pakistan.

Recently, Saeed launched Milli Muslim League political party that fought to win the seat of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif in the National Assembly.

Though the Election Commission of Pakistan has strictly prohibited the display of Saeed's picture on election posters, but the constituency in Lahore is covered with posters showing Saeed, his visage side by side with the official candidate, Muhammad Yaqoob Sheikh, a senior Jamaat-ud-Dawa leader.