Comparing Hafiz Saeed with RSS and Shiv Sena, former Pakistan president Parvez Musharraf said that those demanding action against Jamaat-ud-Dawah chief in his country were toeing in the Indian line.
Naming Afghan and Kashmir Mujahideen as heroes in 1990’s Musharraf said that the scenario has changed now. In an interview on a Pakistani channel on Saturday night he said, “I do not want to discuss this (Saeed) issue. Since India is going after this, we are also following them.”
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Musharraf rantingly asked the interviewer to ascertain what RSS was doing in India. “They do not play cricket with us. You saw what happened with (Pakistan cricket board chief) Shahryar Khan,” he said. “The face of (ex-Pakistan foreign minister Khurshid Mahmud) Kasuri’s book release organiser was blackened. Ghulam Ali’s concert was banned and he was thrown out.”
“This is what is happening there. Are we catching any Sena leader? Was not Bal Thackeray a terrorist… did anybody catch him… a serving Army colonel was involved in the Samjautha blast in which 100 (sic) Pakistanis were killed. You are talking about Saeed, give us that Colonel,” he said.
He also mentioned Prime Minister, Narendra Modi and his cabinet’s presentation to the RSS brass to connect Shiv Sena’s protest against Pakistan with BJP’s parent organisation.
Citing Pakistan’s support for the US-backed Afghan war he said that atmosphere changed after 1979 when Islamabad introduced religious militancy in its favor to throw the Soviets out.
“We brought Mujahideen from around the world. We trained the Taliban… and sent them in. They were our heroes. (Afghan warlord Jalaluddin) Haqqani is our hero of 1980s. Osama (bin Laden) was our hero. Yes, CIA’s as well. (al-Qaida chief Ayman) al-Zawahiri was our hero,” he added.
Acknowledging the replication of a same thing in Kashmir in 1990’s he said that when Indian Army killed Kashmiris, Pakistan gave them heores’ reception
“They were Mujahideen who would fight the Indian Army for their rights. LeT was formed along with 10-12 such groups, now this has converted into terrorism.”
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