Washington: A group of dissident Pakistanis, mostly living in self-exile, has called on the country's government to "choke funding and support" of militant groups, including Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed-led Jamaat-ud-Dawa, that are operating openly in Pakistan.
The dissident members participated in a three-day deliberative conference here and expressed grave concern over the growing authoritarianism, expansion of military's control over public policy and weakening of civilian institutions in Pakistan.
"May the people of Pakistan always be blessed and may they find a way forward from this authoritarian nightmare that continues to damn our country," former Pakistan ambassador to the US Husain Haqqani said on Sunday at the conclusion of the conference.
Organised under the banner of South Asians Against Terrorism and for Human Rights (SAATH) and co-hosted by Haqqani and US-based columnist Mohammad Taqi, the participants in a resolution said the results of the 2018 elections in Pakistan lacked credibility and were seen as one of the most politically engineered polls.
"The polls raised hopes of positive change among PTI supporters, but as widely predicted, those hopes were dashed during the first three months of the new government," said the resolution.
Calling on the government to "choke funding and support" of militant groups operating openly in Pakistan, the participants demanded that action be taken against hate groups and extremist organisations like the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD), Lashkar-e-Jhangv (LeJ) among others, ostensibly being mainstreamed by the security establishment.
They denounced the growing tendency of the State to use the superior judiciary and the National Accountability Bureau for political witch-hunts.
This was the third SAATH conference.
The first two conferences were held in London.