Hafiz Saeed promises nation-wide protest if Rajnath Singh visits Islamabad

Jamaat-ud-Damat (JuD) Chief Hafiz Saeed has warned of a country-wide protest in Pakistan by his outfit if Home Minister Rajnath arrives in Islamabad to attend the SAARC ministerial conference. Saeed also accused Rajnath Singh of being "responsible for the killings of innocent Kashmiris".

"I want to ask the Pakistani government will it add insult to injury to the wounds of Kashmiris by welcoming Rajnath who is responsible for the killings of innocent Kashmiris," he said in a statement in Lahore.

"It will be ironical as on the one hand the whole Pakistani nation is protesting the Indian atrocities in Kashmir and on the other hand the Pakistani rulers will be garlanding Singh," said the statement issued on Monday.

The mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai attack said, "If Singh comes to Islamabad on 3 August, the JuD would hold country-wide protests to tell the world that the Pakistani rulers might have compulsions to receive Kashmiris' killers but the people of Pakistan are siding with oppressed Kashmiris."

He added that protest demonstrations will be held and rallies taken out in Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar, Quetta, Multan, Faisalabad, Muzaffarabad and other cities of the country on 3 August.

Saeed, who is carrying a USD 10 million bounty on his head, warned the government that Singh's presence in Islamabad may create "unrest" among Kashmiris as well as Pakistanis in the face of scores of killings of Kashmiris "at the hands of Indian forces".

The people of Kashmir had refused to meet Singh during his Srinagar visit, he said adding the PML-N government "must also refuse to receive the BJP leader on the excuse that it may hurt and incite feelings of Kashmiris and Pakistanis".

Meanwhile, Hizbul Mujahideen supreme commander Syed Salahuddin asked Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to immediately recall its ambassador from New Delhi and "suspend trade and diplomatic ties" with India in the wake of ongoing unrest in the Valley that has left 49 people dead following Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani's killing.

The Pakistani government should not have invited Singh to the SAARC conference, he said.

"Ailing Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif should at least recall Pakistan's ambassador from New Delhi and suspend trade and diplomatic ties with India. The rulers should give up hypocrisy and the Pakistan government should either plead the case of Kashmiris or make friends with India," Salahuddin said while addressing the 'Azadi Kashmir March' last evening.

He said curfew had been clamped in Kashmir since the last 23 days and the Valley had turned into a "volcano for India that could explode any time".

"It would have been better if the Pakistani government had not invited the Indian home minister in SAARC conference as it would give a wrong message to the Kashmiris," he said.

--PTI