Pak using Hafiz Saeed to 'provoke, nurture' terrorists in India: JD (U)

Day after the Mumbai terror attack mastermind and Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD) chief asked Pakistani military to send troops into Kashmir to 'teach' India a lesson, Janata Dal (United) leader Pawan Verma today said Islamabad must realise that Hafiz Saeed has literally become the most well known symbol of global terrorism.

Speaking to ANI, the JD (U) leader said that the unforgettable betrayal of Pakistan was to say that Hafiz Saeed was arrested, when there is proof that we is roaming freely.

"Hafiz Saeed needs to be first arrested. He is roaming freely which is completely visible to everyone at large. This friction has damaged the trust between the two countries. Now Hafiz Sayeed has almost become an Army commander, he was the commander of the terrorist now he has become commander of the Pakistani Army. Does Pakistan not realise what Hafiz Sayeed means and how he has become literally the most well known symbol of global terrorism," he added.

Responding to the Pakistan government who has apparently 'relaxed' the media regulatory authority's ban on alleged Mumbai attack mastermind, allowing him to appear on private TV channels to advocate the cause of Kashmiris, Verma said Pakistan intentions to put any limitation either in moment or in speech on Hafiz Saeed was a complete fiction.

He further said this latest removal of the ban from his television appearances is only one more evidence of the fact that Pakistan in reality is using Hafiz Saeed to once again not only to provoke India but to guide, nurture and train terrorist in further attacks in India.

"Hafiz Saeed has become the prime focus of the danger of the International terrorism. He needs to be taken out the same way as Osama Bin Laden was taken out by the United States," he added.

Since the violence erupted in Kashmir, Saeed is back on private TV channels, advocating for the Kashmiris and bashing the Narendra Modi government for its role in the killing of 'innocent' Kashmiris.

The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) in November last year had restrained all Pakistani television channels from "all kinds of coverage of the JuD, its front Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation (FIF) and about 60 other proscribed organisations and their leaders.

The Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief commenting on the recent Kashmir issue which had been on the boil for more than a month with at least 58 killed and thousands wounded during protests against the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani last month, has said Pakistan Army to send troops to Kashmir to teach a lesion to India.

According to Pakistan media, the 26/11 mastermind Saeed has asked this to Army chief General Raheel Sharif.

Last month Saeed had said that the ongoing protests on the Indian side of Kashmir would be intensified and warned that the deaths in the region would not be in vain.

Addressing a meet in Lahore yesterday, Saeed said, "This time the people in Kashmir are on streets. This protest has become a mass movement. All groups in Kashmir have united. All the wings of the Hurriyat have become one. The Muttahida Jihad Council and all other groups have come on to the same platform. Those who have died in Kashmir, their deaths will not be in vain."

At least 58 people were killed and several others injured, with both people and security forces turning hostile in protest-related violence in the Kashmir Valley, after Kashmiris took to the streets to condemn the killing of Wani.