JuD leaders claim their group's involvement in Hasina’s ouster from Bangladesh

Lahore: Some leaders of the banned Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) of Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed have claimed that their outfit played a role in last year's mass anti-government protests in Bangladesh that led to the ouster of prime minister Sheikh Hasina. The claims by JuD leaders -- Saifullah Kasuri and Muzammil Hashmi, a UN-designated terrorist – came during their fiery speeches earlier this week. “I was four-year-old when Pakistan was dismembered in 1971. The then Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi had declared that she’d drowned the two-nation theory in Khaleej (Bay of Bengal). On May 10, l … we have taken the revenge of 1971,” Kasuri claimed while addressing his supporters in Allahabad, Rahim Yar Khan, some 400 kms from Lahore. The JuD leader was referring to the Liberation War in 1971 in Bangladesh (then East Pakistan) when Pakistan conceded defeat and unconditionally surrendered in Dhaka to the allied forces comprising the freedom fighters and the Indian soldiers.

He also admitted that the body of one of his fellows, Mudassar, was cut into pieces in the Indian airstrike on Muridke (JuD/LeT headquarters) on May 7 in response to the Pahalgam terror attack that claimed 26 lives on April 22. “I was not allowed to attend his funeral. On the day of his funeral, I cried a lot,” Kasuri said but did not tell who stopped him from attending Mudassar's funeral. On the other hand, the top military, police and civilian bureaucracy of Punjab province of Pakistan were among those who attended Mudassar and two other JuD members’ funerals in full view of cameras. “I was in my constituency meeting with the people when the Pahalgam incident took place. India made me the mastermind of this attack. India made my city, Kasur, popular in the world,” Kasuri said "We are preparing the next generation for jihad...We are not afraid of dying,” he added. In his speech in Gujranwala, some 80 kms from Lahore, a few days ago, Hashmi, referring to the Indian leadership, claimed, “We defeated you in Bangladesh last year...” He was referring to Hasina's ouster on August 5 following massive anti-government protests led by students. She fled to India, and three days later, Muhammad Yunus took over as the Chief Adviser of the interim government. The ties between Bangladesh and Pakistan saw a quantum jump after Hasina's ouster. “The rhetoric of Jihadi extremists at their public rallies makes it difficult for the rest of the world to believe official assertions that Pakistan is no longer sponsoring or tolerating them,” Pakistan's former diplomat Hussain Haqqani said, reacting to the speeches by the JuD leaders.