Hafiz Saeed warns of countrywide protest if Rajnath Singh visits Pak

Lahore, Aug 1: Accusing Home Minister Rajnath Singh of being "responsible for the killings of innocent Kashmiris", Jamaat-ud-Dawah(JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed has warned of a countrywide protest in Pakistan by his outfit if the latter arrives in Islamabad to attend the Saarc (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) ministerial conference. [Why Rajnath singh's Kashmir trip was a damp squib)

"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 here. (Rajnath Singh appeals for peace in Kashmir; asks Pakistan to behave)

"It will be ironical as on the one hand the whole Pakistani nation is protesting against the Indian atrocities in Kashmir and on the other hand the Pakistani rulers will be garlanding Singh," said the statement issued on Monday (August 1).

The mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai attack said "if Singh comes to Islamabad on August 3, the JuD would hold countrywide protest 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 August 3 (Wednesday).

Saeed, who is carrying a $10-million US 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 have left 49 people dead following Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani's killing.

PTI