Blasted in Pakistan over 'olive branch' to India, Bilawal Bhutto stands by Hafiz Saeed extradition remark

Bilawal Bhutto (File)

Former Pakistani foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari may have indirectly extended an olive branch to India by supporting the extradition of LeT founder and 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed but had to face stinging brickbats at home over his attempts to "appease" New Delhi.

In an interview Al Jazeera, Bilawal indicated that Pakistan has no objection to the extradition of people like Saeed as a confidence-building measure as long as New Delhi showed willingness to cooperate in the process.

He was responding to a question about extraditing Hafiz Saeed and Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) chief Masood Azhar as possible concessions and good-faith gestures to India, Dawn newspaper reported.

“As part of a comprehensive dialogue with Pakistan, where terrorism is one of the issues that we discuss, I am sure Pakistan would not be opposed to any of these things,” Bilawal said.

However, the former minister soon found himself cornered for his remarks, with his political opponents saying that he lacks "wisdom, vision and understanding of regional geopolitics". He was also reminded how his remarks were inconsistent with Pakistan's foreign policy.

“Bilawal has become a symbol of confusion and contradiction in Pakistan’s foreign policy discourse,” Sheikh Waqas Akram, spokesperson of the jailed former prime minister Imran Khan-led PTI, said.

“The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) was founded by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto on the legacy of Kashmir, but today, Bilawal is betraying that legacy by pursuing political gains at the expense of Kashmiri blood,” he said.

"Bilawal's proposal was ill-advised and detrimental to Pakistan’s national security narrative, and such statements humiliate the country on international platforms. We fail to understand why Bilawal is so keen on appeasing India," he added.

Even extremist political fronts with ties to proscribed terror outfits weighed in. The Pakistan Markazi Muslim League — a political extension of LeT and JuD — accused India of orchestrating terrorism in Pakistan and abroad, and slammed Bilawal for playing into New Delhi’s hands.

Hafiz Saeed’s son Talha Saeed also lashed out at Bhutto, saying that he is not a "true Muslim".

“Bilawal Bhutto is either unaware of ground realities or promoting the enemy’s narrative ... could a state representative talk about handing over citizens to an enemy country?" Talha said, adding that none of Saeed's action is against Pakistan.

‘Not Free Men'

In an attempt to cushion the blowback, Bilawal maintained that Pakistan had already taken legal action against the men in question.

He said Hafiz Saeed was in state custody, serving a sentence for terror financing and claimed that Masood Azhar was likely in Afghanistan — not Pakistan.

“It is factually not correct that Hafiz Saeed is a free man. If and when the Indian government shares information that [Azhar] is on Pakistani soil, we will be more than happy to arrest him.”

Both LeT and JeM have been banned by Pakistan, according to the National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA).

Saeed, the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack mastermind, is currently serving a 33-year sentence for terror financing. Azhar, a UN-designated global terrorist, has been proscribed by NACTA and living in an undisclosed place for the last many years.

However, the domestic backlash against Bhutto signals the unsaid support in Pakistani political sphere to terror organisations.

Sources quoted by News18 said that jihadi outfits feel betrayed at the PPP leader over his remarks. “These groups have expressed anger that politicians are playing their own game and, instead of protecting them, are offering them to the ‘enemy’," they said.