{"id":39698,"date":"2017-09-29T20:05:03","date_gmt":"2017-09-30T03:05:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/siliconeer.com\/current\/?p=39698"},"modified":"2017-09-29T20:05:03","modified_gmt":"2017-09-30T03:05:03","slug":"hafiz-saeed-let-are-liabilities-pak-says-in-u-s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/siliconeer.com\/current\/hafiz-saeed-let-are-liabilities-pak-says-in-u-s\/","title":{"rendered":"Hafiz Saeed, LeT are \u2018Liabilities\u2019: Pak Says in U.S."},"content":{"rendered":"

(Left):<\/b> Pakistani Foreign Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif gestures while briefing the media in Islamabad, Sept. 7. (Farooq Naeem\/AFP\/Getty Images). (Right):<\/b> Pakistani head of the banned organization Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) Hafiz Saeed addresses supporters during a protest against India in Lahore, June 12, 2015. (Arif Ali\/AFP\/Getty Images)<\/em><\/p>\n

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Pakistan\u2019s Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif has acknowledged, Sept. 26, that Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed, the Haqqanis and the LeT are \u201cliabilities\u201d but the country lacks the required \u201cassets\u201d to get rid of them, writes Sajjad Hussain.<\/b><\/p>\n

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Khawaja Asif said that the U.S., which is putting pressure on Pakistan to tackle terrorist groups operating from its soil, once used to treat them as \u201cdarlings\u201d just 20 to 30 years back.<\/p>\n

President Donald Trump had last month criticized Pakistan for its support to terror groups, saying it receives billions in U.S. aid but continues to harbor militants.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t blame us for the Haqqanis (the Haqqani terror network) and don\u2019t blame us for the Hafiz Saeeds (chief of Jamaat-ud-Dawa terror group),\u201d Khawaja Asif said at the Asia Society forum in New York, Sept. 26.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese were the people who were your darlings just 20 to 30 years back. They were being dined and wined in the White House and now you say \u2018go to hell Pakistanis because you are nurturing these people,\u2019\u201d he was quoted as saying by the state-run Associated Press<\/i> of Pakistan.<\/p>\n

It is very easy to say Pakistan is floating the Haqqanis and Hafiz Saeed and Lashkar-e-Taiba. They are liabilities, Asif said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI accept that they are liabilities, but give us time to get rid of them because we don\u2019t have the assets to match these liabilities and you are increasing them (our liabilities) further,\u201d the minister said.<\/p>\n

Pakistan is ready to work with the U.S. for effective management of the Afghan border to stop terrorist infiltration and to facilitate a peace settlement in Afghanistan, he said.<\/p>\n

Speaking at the forum, Asif said that there was no military solution to the festering conflict in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n

\u201cScapegoating Pakistan for all the Afghan ills is neither fair nor accurate. This will only help forces that we are trying to fight collectively,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Asif also talked about Pakistan\u2019s relations with India, the Kashmir dispute, counter-terrorism measures and the country\u2019s economic progress.<\/p>\n

Pakistan has a \u201clarger stake\u201d in seeing the return of peace and stability in Afghanistan than any other country, having suffered grievously from the conflict and instability across the border.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are mindful of the strong desire in the U.S. to bring the \u2018long war\u2019 in Afghanistan to an end. We support this objective wholeheartedly and are ready to help in any way we can to achieve peace and stability in Afghanistan,\u201d he offered.<\/p>\n

He, however, made it clear that there were obviously clear limits to what Pakistan could do.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe cannot take responsibility for Afghanistan\u2019s peace and security and be asked to achieve what the combined strength of some of the most powerful and richest countries could not accomplish,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Talking about Pakistan\u2019s sour relations with India, the minister said that a new initiative was needed to bring India and Pakistan to the negotiating table.<\/p>\n

He said that the need to discuss all issues, including the decades-old Kashmir dispute the main source of tension between the two countries.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeace in the neighborhood is impossible to achieve unless relations with India improve. Pakistan reached out to India to seek normalization of relations and resolution of all disputes through dialogue and engagement, but India did not reciprocate,\u201d Asif claimed.<\/p>\n

Pakistan is ready to work with India to seek peaceful resolution of all disputes and to create an environment of peace and stability allowing the people of the two countries to realize their aspirations of prosperity and development, the minister added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Left): Pakistani Foreign Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif gestures while briefing the media in Islamabad, Sept. 7. (Farooq Naeem\/AFP\/Getty Images). (Right): Pakistani head of the banned organization Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) Hafiz Saeed addresses supporters during a protest against India in Lahore, June 12, 2015. (Arif Ali\/AFP\/Getty Images) Pakistan\u2019s Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif has acknowledged, Sept. 26, that…<\/p>\n

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