Pakistan's Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has landed himself in trouble and is courting rallies against him for condemning Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed. Asif has also been condemned by opposition leaders and was called the mouthpiece of India, while Saeed was dubbed as patriotic.
Saeed was put under house arrest on January 30 and was named under Pakistan's Anti-Terrorism Act on February 18. This is the first time a Pakistani leader condemned Saeed, who is in the United Nations list of terrorists, at an international forum and acknowledged that he was a threat to the country. Saeed is accused of planning the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
At an international security conference in Germany, Asif said that Saeed can pose a 'serious threat' to the nation and was placed under house arrest for Pakistan's 'larger interest.'
"Saeed can pose a serious threat to the society," Asif told the audience at the Munich Security Conference on Sunday.
However, little did the minister know that condemning a man placed under Anti-Terrorism Law would lead to him being called an Indian mouthpiece, an equivalent of being anti-national. He is facing massive backlash from the political arena with top politicians in the country condemned him. In India, raising Pakistani flags or supporting the neighbouring rival country can also lead to one being dubbed as anti-national.
"Asif's statement makes him sound like he's India's defence minister, not Pakistan's," said Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Mahmoodur Rasheed. Rasheed said Islamabad has adopted "a defensive policy as far as India and the US were concerned," according to the News International.
Former Prime Minister of Azad Kashmir Sardar Muhammad Attique said that the statement was made to appease India. The minister "has lost control over his tongue" said Jamaat-e-Islami leader Liaquat Baloch, while Defence of Pakistan Council chairman Maulana Samiul Haq said the defence minister "should have "raised the issue of atrocities being committed by the Indian Army in Kashmir."
Jamaat ud-Dawa is now planning a rally in Pakistan on Tuesday against Asif demanding that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif take notice of the statement in what can only mean that there will be repercussion from the top rung for Asif for making the statement.
