Pakistan Admits Hafiz Saeed Is Liability, Asks For Time To Get Rid Of People Like Him

Pakistan foreign minister Khawaja Asif has admitted that Hafiz Saeed, co-founder of terror organisation Lashkar-e-Taiba, is a liability for Pakistan and South Asian region.

While speaking at the Asia Society seminar in New York, Asif said: "It is very easy to say that Pakistan is supporting Hafiz Saeed and Lashkar-e-Taiba. They are liabilities...we have said they are liabilities... but give us time to get rid of these liabilities because we do not have the assets to match these liabilities," says this NDTV report.

Asif also went on to say that Pakistan paid a very high price by"wrongly" supporting the US in a "proxy war" in Afghanistan against the Soviets in the 1980s. He added that  Jihadist elements were nurtured by both the US and Pakistan during the war, reported The Times of India.

He said that his "heart bleeds" because of what Pakistan has become today, the report adds.

According to a report by The Hindu, Pakistan's Interior Ministry opposed the registration of the political wing of Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD), the Milli Muslim League (MML), as a political party, on Tuesday. 

Apart from citing security clearance from intelligence agencies, the ministry said  that some countries have expressed concern over the MML which used a social media campaign with the JuD head Hafiz Saeed's photographs on the banners.

Earlier in February, Saeed was listed under the Anti-Terrorist Act by Pakistan.

Pakistan’s Punjab Provincial Government had listed Saeed and four of his aides under the fourth schedule of Anti-Terrorism Act. Besides acknowledging his links with terrorism, the Anti-Terrorism Act list empowers the government to put travel sanctions and scrutinise the assets of the person. Any violation can result in imprisonment of up to three years.

Saeed was declared a global terrorist by the UN and the US for his role in the Mumbai attack.

(With PTI inputs)