Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jamaat-ud-Dawah, Hafiz Saeed most patriotic, says Musharraf

Calling terror groups Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD) "patriotic", Pakistan's former military dictator Pervez Musharraf has said that he is ready to enter into an alliance with them for Pakistan's "safety and security", according to a media report.

The 74-year-old retired general, who is on self-exile in Dubai, had last month said that he was the biggest supporter of terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba and its founder Hafiz Saeed, the Mumbai terror attack mastermind who heads the banned terror outfit Jamaat-ud Dawah.

"They (LeT and JuD) are patriotic people. The most patriotic. They have sacrificed their lives for Pakistan in Kashmir...," Pakistan's ARY News channel quoted him as saying.

Pervez Musharraf went on to say that the two terror groups have "large public support and good people" and that "no one could object if they formed a political party."

The Lashkar-e-Taiba or LeT was banned following the 2008 Mumbai attacks in which 166 people were killed, while the Jamaat-ud-Dawah or JuD was declared as a foreign terrorist organisation by the United States in June 2014.

JuD chief Hafiz Saeed, accused of masterminding the Mumbai terror attacks, had last month unveiled his political ambitions by formally announcing that his group will contest the general elections in Pakistan in 2018 under the banner of the Milli Muslim League.

Musharraf further said that so far the two groups have not approached him, but "if they wish to enter into an alliance with my party, I have no objection."

Pervez Musharraf had last month announced the formation of a grand political alliance in Pakistan after a consultative meeting between representatives of around two dozen political parties.

However, several parties dissociated themselves from Mr Musharraf's Pakistan Awami Ittehad alliance.

Pervez Musharraf, who plotted the Kargil conflict, toppled Pakistan's then prime minister Nawaz Sharif soon after in a bloodless coup in 1999 and ruled over Pakistan as a military dictator for nine years. He is facing a slew of court cases in Pakistan. He also unsuccessfully contested 2013 elections after returning from five years of self-exile in Dubai.

He claimed that he was ready to face all charges as the courts are not under "Nawaz Sharif's control anymore".

PTI