New Delhi, 27 September(Wishav Warta): Pakistan’s foreign minister admitted late yesterday that terrorist Hafiz Saeed and terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) are a “liability” for his country and for the South Asian region. “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. There are people in Pakistan who can be a liability in times of crisis for Pakistan and for the region. I don’t disagree with that,” said Pakistan’s foreign minister Khawaja Asif at a Q&A session at the Asia Society in New York, referring to Saeed, who masterminded the 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai.
Asif also acknowledged that Pakistan has to continue its efforts in dismantling terrorism and elements of extremism but added that it needs time and “assets” to do the job. “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,” said Asif. In an engaging Q&A session, Asif made an impassioned defence of his country, lamented its slide into extremism and eloquently laid much of the blame on the rise of terrorist elements in Pakistan in the last 20 years on the US. He said, by “wrongly” supporting the US in a “proxy war” in Afghanistan against the Soviets in the 1980s, Pakistan paid a very high price. Jihadist elements were nurtured by both the US and Pakistan during this conflict, added Asif. “Don’t blame us for Saeed, these people were your darlings 20 years ago, they were being dined and wined in the White House. Now you say go to hell, Pakistan,” said Asif.
