By Sanjeev Sharma New Delhi : , Pakistan’s Ambassador to America, Masood Kan, is a radical who has a history of working alongside Islamists in West Asia and with Islamic jihadis from the East.In a National Review article, Sam Westrop stated that his appointment was evidence of a dangerous Pakistani regime.
They are working to support and co-opt Islamists around the globe, as well as in America.
“Masood will not only help Pakistan gain influence in American Islamism, but it will also aid Pakistan’s Islamist-driven international policy towards India.
He is the ex-leader of Pakistani Kashmir and a natural choice to be a spokesperson for diverting attention from Pakistan’s shameful role in Afghanistan.
Masood Khan, the latest instance of a modern theocratic Pakistan.
He will be a catalyst for radicals both in the U.S.A and South Asia during his tenure in D.C.His open support for US-designated terrorists is evident.He also dresses in international diplomacy.”The Biden administration must at least look into this possibility for Masood Khan, even though foreign ambassadors are not often rejected by Western nations,” Westrop stated.
It stated that Khan had “examples” of jihadi connections.
Khan, who was president of Pakistan Occupied Kashmir in July 2021, sent a special message on “the fifth anniversary of Burhan Wani’s martyrdom”.
Khan does not consider Wani the only Hizbul Mujahideen Jihadi to be a jihadi.
Mainstream Pakistani media claimed that Khan had expressed his full support for Hizbul Mujahideen in June 2017 following US State Department’s designation of the terrorist group.Khan also stated that the US sanctions on Syed Salahuddin (the leader of the terrorist organization) were not justified.
Westrop stated that Salahuddin also chairs the United Jihad Council.This umbrella organization for Kashmiri terrorists is backed by Pakistani government.
Khan will embrace the Hizbul Mujahideen, but there are other terrorist organizations.Khan was among the top officials from the Pakistani government who attended the All Parties Kashmir Solidarity Conference, Islamabad in 2019.
Indian media reported that Khan was on the same stage as Fazlur Rahman Khalil (founder of Harkat-ul-Mujahideen) which Westrop stated in 1997.
The US designated Khalil as Specially Designated Global terrorist in 2014.
The Treasury Department stated that Khalil had maintained a close relationship to Al Qaeda and Osama Bin Laden before his death.Khalil was an important member of bin Laden’s International Islamic Front, and cosignatory to his 1998 fatwa calling for attack against the US.
Stanford’s Center for International Security and Cooperation notes that Khalil’s HuM had been freely established in Pakistan and was supported by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence.It was repeatedly reported that the group had been in contact with bin Laden and were involved in terrorist acts, hijackings and executions of Indian civilians and soldiers.
Westrop stated that it does not stop there.Khan also supports the militant South Asian Islamist Movement Jamaat-e-Islami.Their killing squads assisted the Pakistani military in committing genocide against Bangladeshis back in 1971.
These are not the only instances.
Khan supports Aafia Syediqui, an operative terrorist known as Lady Al-Qaeda.
Khan is not restricted to his homeland by his extremist sympathies.
He has worked alongside terror-tied Islamists in other countries as well.Abdullah Bozkurt, a journalist from Pakistan, tweeted pictures of Khan visiting the Turkish intelligence-linked charity IHH.This outfit is accused of providing arms and supplies to Al Qaeda linked jihadi group in Syria and Libya.
Westrop stated that branches of IHH were designated terrorist organizations in Germany, Israel and the Netherlands.
Khan is becoming a key figure in many radical organizations and individuals around the globe as the cause for Kashmir becomes a popular rallying cry of Islamists.Westrop stated.
Khan has been in close contact even with Islamist operatives from the West.Khan was president of PoK, and extremist charities like Helping Hand for Relief and Development, (HHRD), were repeatedly praised by him and his office.
Westrop stated that the official Office had pledged its cooperation with the group.
HHRD, a prominent American proxy for Jamaat-e-Islami is a key player.
HHRD was openly partnering with Lashkar-e-Taiba in 2017, which organized the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks, where 166 people were killed.HHRD partners and funds Jamaat-e-Islami’s welfare arm Al-Khidmat Foundation.Al-Khidmat proudly boasts that it has funded Palestinian terrorist group Hamas in its “just jihad” campaign.
Khan’s contacts with Western Islamists are likely to be influenced by Pakistan’s plans.The Pakistani government, led by Prime Minister Imran Khan has been working hard to expand its reach within American Islam.
The Prime Minister spoke at a 2019 conference organized by the Islamic Society of North America, a prominent American Islamist organization.
He urged American Muslims “approach your Senators (and) Congressmen” to talk about the supposed evils of India as well as the Kashmir question.
After the Canada Revenue Agency transferred C$136,000 from Kashmir to ISNA, Westrop stated that the agency suspended the branch.
This money was believed to have been stolen by Hizbul Mujahideen.
In partnership with American Jamaat-e-Islami proxies, Pakistani-regime organizations and PTI officials have vigorously fought for Islamist causes in the US since Imran Khan’s speech.
In Houston, PTI officials, one of whom was directly appointed by Imran Khan as his government’s representative in the United States, established the International Humanitarian Foundation (IHF), which, in close collaboration with domestic American Islamist organizations and other Pakistani-regime-linked lobbying groups and community groups, organised enormous protests against the visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on advertising and employing lobbyists in D.C, Westrop said.
To carry out their work, the IHF collaborated with 12 American Pakistani and Islamist groups, including Houston’s Friends of Kashmir.Friends of Kashmir claims to partly operate out of the Pakistani Consulate in Houston, and often works with high-ranking PTI officials.
Friends of Kashmir held an event in October with Shehryar KhanAfridi (a former cabinet minister under Imran Khan’s government), Westrop stated.
Friends of Kashmir, which is led by Ghazala Haibib (an activist), has been openly associated with Jihadist causes.
The group organized an event in 2017 with terrorist operatives Yasin Maki and Shabir Shah.Both were detained by Indian police for their ties to Lashkar-e-Taiba, a terrorist organization.
Habib is said to be a representative for both Syed Ali Geelani (the late leader of jihad) and Asiya Butrabi (founder of the terrorist organisation Dukhtaran-e-Millat.Westrop stated that Masood Khan had praised both.
Masood Khan may have been operating at the margins of many of these initiatives.Habib is close to him.Khan often posts photos and comments from his encounters with Habib at home in Pakistan.
He was listed in 2020 as the star speaker at an event organized by Friends of Kashmir with Pakistani Embassy.
It also included American Congress members, Pakistani ISI suspects and Islamist operatives.
His contacts with American Islamists, including those aligned to the Turkish regime and anti-Hindu Indian-American Islamists-India as well as US Jamaat-e-Islami TV stations are other examples of his Western Islamist friends.
(Sanjeev Sharma can be reached at Sanjeev.s@ians.in)
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