‘Anyone, even a dog, killed by the US is a martyr’

Close on the heels of a top Pakistani leader describing slain Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud as a martyr, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam chief Fazlur Rehman on Tuesday said anyone killed by the US, even if it is a dog, is a martyr. Rehman made the remarks when he was asked by reporters outside parliament whether Mehsud, killed in a US drone strike on Friday, was a martyr. He is not the only politician to have called Mehsud, blamed for the death of thousands of Pakistanis, a martyr. Jamaat-e-Islami chief Munawar Hasan’s also called him a martyr. Hasan’s remarks were criticised by the PPP and Muttahida Qaumi Movement.