The appointment of the new Pakistani envoy to the US, Sardar Masood Khan has once again exposed Islamabad deep terror links, who co-opt and support Islamists all around the world.
Christine Fair, the author of 'Fighting to the End: The Pakistan Army's Way of War' and 'In Their Own Words: Understanding the Lashkar-e-Tayyaba' said that Khan "is a dangerous radical with a long history of working with Islamists", in an article for a news website.
His selection has furrowed eyebrows in Washington and New Delhi alike.
As per Fair, Khan is a pro-active supporter of Islamist terrorist organisations such as Hizbul Mujahideen, which the Trump administration designated as a terrorist outfit in 2017.
He also supports numerous Islamist terrorist organisations and terrorist leaders, including Fazlur Rehman Khalil who founded the Deobandi Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HuM). The United States designated this group a terrorist organisation in 1997 and later, in 2014, designated Khalil himself as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist.
Khalil is known to have "maintained a close relationship with Al-Qaeda, including with Osama bin Laden prior to his death.
Delhi, for its part, finds him to be a noxious provocateur for his various criticisms -- with varying degrees of validity and absurdity -- of the conduct of India's armed forces in Kashmir; his ceaseless hailing of Burhan Wani, a slain popular terrorist leader associated with Hizbul Mujahideen as a hero, said Fair in the article.
Given the relentless efforts of the Pakistan intelligence agency, ISI, Pakistan's notorious intelligence agency, to both stir up problems in and pertaining to the Punjab and Kashmir, his appointment is likely a harbinger of more reckless Pakistani shenanigans aiming to cause problems for India at home or abroad.
But, Pakistan will not likely reap the benefits it expects should Khan assume this post early next year replacing Asad Majeed Khan, who will complete his three-year tenure in January 2022, for several reasons.
First, Khan himself makes a mockery of Pakistan's own policies towards that portion of Kashmir it mismanages, said Fair.
Even Ejaz Haider a prominent pro-army interlocutor in various media platforms, has criticised this selection on several grounds, including the fact that he has already retired from his foreign service career.
He noted that for all of its hollering about Indian malfeasance in Kashmir, Pakistan's own record with respect to the Kashmiris it governs is shambolic. International organisations such as Human Rights Watch agree.
Second, Washington will not heed to Pakistani rants on Kashmir as Americans are exhausted with the endless Pakistani terrorist antics and its never-ending dalliance with Islamist evil-doers, said Fair.
On various platforms, Prime Minister Imran Khan had lamented that US President Joe Biden hasn't yet called him.
The takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban also shows how Pakistan undermined American efforts, said Fair.
Moreover, most of the men and women who have served in Afghanistan know full well who was behind the Taliban: Pakistan's military. One day, those men and women will be generals and they will not have the soft spot for Pakistan's men in uniform that many current American generals mysteriously harbour, added Fair.
( With inputs from ANI )
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