Pak politician defends Pahalgam attack mastermind, shares stage with LeT chief’s son

A prominent Pakistani politician was recently spotted sharing the dais with the Pahalgam attack mastermind Saifullah Khalid, who is Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) deputy chief, and Talha Saeed, son of LeT chief and 26/11 Mumbai attacks mastermind Hafiz Saeed, at a rally in Pakistan, further providing evidence of how the nation continues to foster and support cross-border terrorism.

Pakistan is in the dock for fostering cross-border terrorism, and both its administration and military are accused of having links with terrorists who move around freely and attend crowded functions with impunity.

The incident happened in Pakistan’s Punjab province, where the speaker of the state assembly, Malik Muhammad Ahmed Khan, was seen attending a rally with LeT deputy chief Saifullah Khalid, also known as “Kasuri”, who is one of the masterminds of the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam and a US-designated terrorist.

Talha Saeed, who is the de facto head of the terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba, was also on the stage.

The Speaker of the Punjab Assembly even defended the presence of Kasuri at the rally, and said that the LeT deputy chief “should not be seen as an accused in the Pahalgam terror attack case without an investigation.”

“It was a political rally, and politicians from all walks of life were present there. Because I have a personal connection with the place (Kasur—the town where the May 28 rally took place), organisers also called me and I went,” he said.

Another clip showed Kasuri calling India an enemy state (dushman) and claimed he was ‘wrongfully’ accused as the mastermind of the Pahalgam terror attack. He even boasted of becoming more famous after India’s charges.

The Indian authorities are closely watching the developments, as the LeT is a banned terror organisation but continues to operate openly in Pakistan, often holding public gatherings under the guise of charity or nationalist causes. The presence of high-profile politicians at such gatherings raises questions about Pakistan’s commitment to fighting terrorism.

The rally was organised by the Pakistan Markazi Muslim League (PMML) to mark Youm-e-Takbeer and also featured food minister Malik Rasheed Ahmad Khan and close associates of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and PML-N leader Maryam Nawaz.

The presence of top LeT operatives at the rally attracted attention from foreign policy observers, especially after some of them boasted publicly about having avenged Pakistan’s 1971 defeat to India.