Pakistan’s terror pipeline runs through its own cabinet: Sharif's minister meets Hafiz Saeed’s political front in Faisalabad

Pakistan’s duplicity on terrorism has once again come to light, this time from within the corridors of its own government. In a shocking development, Pakistan’s Minister of State for Interior, Talal Chaudhry, a close aide of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, paid a visit to the Pakistan Markazi Muslim League (PMML) office in Faisalabad on Thursday. The PMML is the political front of Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD), the banned terror outfit founded by 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed.

The minister’s visit to the terror-linked party’s headquarters -- his first -- is being widely seen as a sign of official endorsement of Hafiz Saeed’s political network, further exposing Pakistan’s deep-rooted nexus between politics and terrorism.

According to the PMML’s own statement, Chaudhry was welcomed at the party’s Faisalabad office, around 130 km from Lahore, where he held detailed talks with PMML leaders on Pakistan’s political situation and “national issues.” The discussions reportedly revolved around promoting “unity” and “political stability” -- buzzwords the Pakistani establishment has long used to justify alliances with extremist factions.

“The meeting emphasised cooperation among all political forces to strengthen democratic institutions,” the PMML said in a statement. But critics point out that such overt outreach to a terror-affiliated group blurs the line between governance and extremism, especially when the party’s founder continues to serve time for terror financing.

Hafiz Saeed, convicted in multiple terror funding cases, is currently lodged in Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat Jail. Yet, his network remains active, now with open engagement from federal ministers.

This latest meeting is part of a pattern of soft political legitimisation for groups once officially banned under Pakistan’s anti-terror laws. Earlier, Punjab Assembly Speaker Malik Ahmad Khan had attended a PMML rally in Kasur district, where he praised Hafiz Saeed and his organisation.

Since the Pahalgam terror attack in India in May, in which Pakistan-based groups were implicated, the PMML has been increasingly visible under state patronage. The Shehbaz Sharif government’s silence over these developments suggests not just complacency, but active complicity in mainstreaming terror-linked groups.

With a federal minister now openly engaging with the political arm of a UN-designated terrorist, Pakistan’s repeated claims of cracking down on extremism stand exposed once again. The so-called “civilian government” has shown it remains a willing partner in the military’s decades-old policy of using terror as a political tool, both at home and abroad.