Pakistan doesn’t support terrorists…

Ambassador Sherry Rehman assures us that Pakistan has no links to terror groups. From The Express Tribune:

Pakistan’s ambassador to the United States Sherry Rehman said on Tuesday that Pakistan has no connection with the terrorist organisations that are creating unrest in the region, Express News reported.

Meanwhile Senator John McCain says that Pakistan’s premier intelligence service supports the Haqqani Network. Also from from The Express Tribune:

Former US presidential hopeful, Republican Senator John McCain says it is reprehensible that Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence maintains a close relationship with the Haqqani Network that is responsible for American deaths.

Addressing a packed hall at the think tank the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington DC, Senator McCain said that he had sympathy for Pakistan’s military since the Pakistani government is dysfunctional, but said that it remained a “source of never ending frustration” that the ISI had a continuous relationship with the Haqqani Network, when General Kayani is responsible for appointing the head of the ISI.

And Hafiz Saeed, the emir of Lashkar-e-Taiba who is wanted by the US for involvement in multiple terror attacks, seeks protection from the US via Pakistan’s courts. From The Times of India:

Saeed filed the petition along with his brother-in-law Hafiz Abdur Rehman Makki, for whom the US has announced a $2 million bounty under its Rewards for Justice programme. Saeed and Makki contended in the petition that under Articles 4 and 9 of the Pakistani Constitution, they are free citizens, and the federal and provincial governments should be stopped from taking any “adverse action” against them under pressure from the US. They asked the court to direct the government to provide them security as their “lives were not safe” and any “mishap” could happen. Saeed and Makki further requested the court to direct the federal government to ask the US to withdraw the bounty.

As crazy as it sounds, Saeed may actually win his case, as he has done numerous times in the past when placed under a so-called house arrest. But, according to Ambassador Rehman, we shouldn’t conclude that Saeed, who lives openly in Pakistan and just recently bragged about his role in the jihad, is being supported by the Pakistani state.

Bill Roggio is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Editor of FDD's Long War Journal.

Are you a dedicated reader of FDD's Long War Journal? Has our research benefitted you or your team over the years? Support our independent reporting and analysis today by considering a one-time or monthly donation. Thanks for reading! You can make a tax-deductible donation here.

Tags: ,

11 Comments

  • Birbal Dhar says:

    Doesn’t seem to be anything new in this article, apart from more Pakistani officials pretending that their country doesn’t support islamic terrorists. Of course these Pakistani officials are not going to admit that the ISI are supporting islamic terrorists fighting against Afghanistan and India. If they did, they’ll end up sacked or worse, murdered just like journalist Saleem Shazad, who was tortured and threatened by Pakistan’s secret intelligence.

  • Knighthawk says:

    In other news:
    Pakistan’s ambassador to the United States Sherry Rehman said on Tuesday that water is not wet. /sarc

  • Solomon2 says:

    Under the post-9/11 UNSC Resolutions (especially 1373) Pakistan has a binding sovereign obligation (Chapter VII resolution) to eliminate terrorists, terror-training camps, and terror havens from its territory. Pakistan’s trick is that while it signs treaties that it wants others to abide by these obligations do not carry over into Pakistan’s domestic laws.
    Especially after 26/11 the SG has asked Pakistan to bring its laws into conformity but nothing ever happens; Pakistan remains the nuclear umbrella under which terrorists seek shelter.

  • Villiger says:

    I don’t know whose ambassador she is for she certainly hasn’t been appointed by Kayani the de facto President of Paqistan.
    She might well be on the run soon like her predecessor Hussain Haqqani who Kayani is gunning for. After years as ambassador in the US, he still had to ask a petty broker to deliver a memorandum to the White House!
    At any rate, on this subject, I think the most credible statement came from Admiral Mullen who as a parting shot said that HQN was a “veritable arm” of Paq’s ISI.
    He should have known after years in the job, after years of dealing with Paq, and after years of dealing with Kayani up-close and personal.

  • Villiger says:

    As for Saeed, I’m glad he’s having difficulty sleeping at night, although they say the devil never sleeps.

  • Devin Leonard says:

    Jesus, what is Rehman smoking, and where can I get some:)
    And for once John McCain (who is a great American patriot, but sadly seems to be more and more in the neocon camp these days) is right on target. Look, When I was in Afghanistan in Marine Spec Ops, we saw intel on the ISI. And I am not giving anything away I shouldn’t by saying that it was common knowledge that the ISI had links to the Pakistani Taliban. And the fact that they have links to the Haqqani’s was known at the time as well it’s just that the Haqqani’s were considered more of a mafia type group as opposed to the terrorist/guerilla group they have become now. Pakistan’s military and particularly it’s ISI is rotten to the core, and anyone with half a brain knows it…Sherry apparently lacks half a brain, REPLACE HER!

  • Villiger says:

    Devin, ironically she was on a hit list in her own wretched country. Because she’s a crony of the Bhutto-Zardari family she was scuttled to Washington.
    Anyway lets not shoot this petty messenger. The crux is as you rightly say: “Pakistan’s military and particularly it’s ISI is rotten to the core,..”. This is where policy needs to be focussed on and radically changed.

  • david says:

    @Devin Leonard —
    Are you saying that the ISI has links to the *Pakistani* Taliban, as opposed to the Afghan Taliban i.e. the part of the Taliban that attacks the Pakistani state? I’ve been reading this site a long
    time but I never heard that. If that’s true, then the ISI is guilty
    of enormous treason against Pakistan(attempts to assassinate Musharraf, for example), right?
    Can you please clarify? The ISI is really supporting those insurgents that are attacking the Pakistani state?

  • bard207 says:

    david,
    ———————————

    Are you saying that the ISI has links to the
    *Pakistani* Taliban, as opposed to the Afghan Taliban i.e. the part of the Taliban that attacks the Pakistani state? I’ve been reading this site a long
    time but I never heard that. If that’s true, then the ISI is guilty
    of enormous treason against Pakistan(attempts to assassinate Musharraf, for example), right?
    Can you please clarify? The ISI is really supporting those insurgents that are attacking the Pakistani state?
    ———————————
    I don’t know if it could be termed as support, but the Pakistan Army wasn’t very Serious about stopping enemies of the Pakistani government – military like Mullah (Radio) Fazlullah and Baitullah Mehsud. Since the ISI is a branch (root?) of the Pakistani Army, the indifference could suggest tacit support.
    ——————————
    Taliban are ‘patriots,’ says Pakistani Army official
    “We have no big issues with the militants in Fata [the Federally Administered Tribal Areas],” the official said. “We have only some misunderstandings with Baitullah and Fazlullah. These misunderstandings could be removed through dialogue.”
    —————————

  • Devin Leonard says:

    David- What we got intel on was that they supported both the Afghan Taliban and the Pakistani Taliban, but in different ways. The Afghan Taliban they turned a blind eye to and didn’t go after as hard. The Pakistani Taliban they conived with when it suited them (like the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, which was a joint Al Qaida/Pakistani Taliban Op) We saw intel that the ISI could have done more to stop that assassination attempt but didn’t. By the way everything I am saying is stuff I have seen in the public domain, so I don’t feel I am compromising any breach of intel to say it on this forum.
    Mostly the ISI supports the Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani’s.

  • Villiger says:

    Sorry to go a little off-topic but i wanted to flag this story:
    “Another courageous casualty in Pakistan, journalism’s ‘most dangerous country”
    http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Global-News/2012/0420/Another-courageous-casualty-in-Pakistan-journalism-s-most-dangerous-country
    Murtaza Rizvi was a respected senior journalist at the Dawn. He was clean-cut, born Shia though secular and a man of peace. Shameful and sad–my heart goes out to his widow, three daughters and the rest of his family and friends.
    Apparently, Paqistan topped the global list with 7 journalists killed in 2011 and 8 in 2010. There remain 19 unsolved murders of journalists since 2002. The place is a vicious jungle.
    Sherry Rehman is an ex-journalist as is PM Gilani. Looks like the only way for a journalist to stay safe in PAQ is to become a corrupt politician and surround yourself with State security. But, for how long?

Iraq

Islamic state

Syria

Aqap

Al shabaab

Boko Haram

Isis