Pakistan coming around? Foreign minister calls LeT and Hafiz Saeed liabilities, but blames US

Pakistan Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif on Tuesday, September 26, showed perhaps the first sign of submission that the problem of terrorism lay within the boundaries of his country, ending a long wait by India and the world for Pakistan to admit to the truth: That it is truly the Terroristan as it was called by India at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) meeting in the United States recently.

However, he also blamed the rise of the likes of Saeed on the US, claiming they were "darlings" of that country 20 years ago. He was possibly referring to the US arming local elements in Afghanistan who were looking to fight of Russian aggression.

Asif's admission came possibly hours after news broke of how a Pakistan Intelligence Bureau (IB) official is running pillar to post because no one seems to believe that his organisation is supporting terrorists.

India, meanwhile, has long been suggesting that terrorist organisations get state support in Pakistan, something that even third-party and neutral experts have reiterated time and again.

Hafiz Saeed is currently under house arrest in Pakistan, but that has not stopped a charity run by the Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) -- the terrorist organisation he heads -- to compete in elections in the country, thereby lending it a semblance of legitimacy.

What Asif said

Asked about Saeed and the JuD at a Q&A session at the Asia Society in New York on Tuesday, local time, Asif said: "You mentioned a name. It's a proscribed organisation. The gentleman's under house arrest. But I agree with you that on that score we have to do more. We have to do more."

He added: "There are people in Pakistan who can be a liability in times of crisis for Pakistan and the region. I don't disagree with that."

Asif also said: "Saeed, LeT, they are a liability, I accept it. But give us time to get rid of them. We don't have the assets to deal with these liabilities." The Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) -- it may be mentioned here -- is a terrorist organisation founded by Hafiz Saeed.

Blaming the US

However, Asif was also quick to deflect quite a portion of the blame to the United States when he said: "Don't blame us for the Haqqanis [the Haqqani Network] and don't blame us for the Hafiz Saeeds."

He went on to add: "These were the people who were your darlings just 20-30 years back. They were being dined and wined in the White House and now you say 'go to hell Pakistanis because you are nurturing these people'."

He was possibly referring to a point in history two-three decades or even before that when the United States used to arm large sections of the Afghan populace in order to help them fend of Russian advances -- an episode chronicled extensively in Hollywood films ranging from the realistic Charlie Wilson's War to the populist and propagandist Rambo III.

Asif also said: "Scapegoating Pakistan for all the Afghan ills is neither fair nor accurate. This will only help forces that we are trying to fight collectively."