Islamabad/Washington, February 1
A US Congressman has urged President Joe Biden to reject Pakistan’s ambassador-designate Masood Khan’s diplomatic credentials and termed him a “bona fide terrorist sympathiser” working to undermine America’s pursuits within the area, saying he has inspired younger males to emulate jihadists and praised international terrorist organisations.
Khan, who has beforehand served because the “president” of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) till August final yr, was nominated as Pakistan’s ambassador to the US in November.
Republican Congressman Scott Perry, in a letter to President Biden final week, expressed “grave concern” in regards to the nomination of Khan as Pakistan’s ambassador to the US.
“(Pakistan Prime {Minister}) Imran Khan’s nomination of a bona fide terrorist sympathiser working to undermine our pursuits within the area, in addition to the safety of our Indian allies, can solely be described as a panoramic lack of judgment at finest, and an indication of Islamabad’s unmitigated contempt for the US at worst,” he wrote.
“Whereas I’m inspired that the State Division has reportedly positioned a pause on approving Masood Khan as the brand new ambassador from Pakistan, a pause is just not sufficient.
“I urge you to reject any diplomatic credentials offered to you by Masood Khan and reject any effort by the Authorities of Pakistan to put in this jihadist as Pakistan’s Ambassador to the US,” stated the Member of Congress tenth District, Pennsylvania.
In Islamabad, the Daybreak newspaper reported that the US State Division has been taking “unusually lengthy” to simply accept the nomination of Khan and the “delay has triggered an impression of a pause within the course of”.
The request for agrément for Masood Khan had been despatched to the State Division within the second week of November, the report quoted a Pakistani diplomat as saying.
The agrément is the approval of a delegated diplomat by the receiving state.
Usually, the State Division took 4 to 6 weeks to subject agrément for Pakistani ambassadors up to now, a former Pakistani international secretary stated.
“This time they’re taking unusually lengthy,” one other diplomat stated.
In his letter, US Congressman Perry additional stated that the ambassador-designate has praised each terrorists and international terrorist organisations, together with Hizbul Mujahideen, in stark and unsetting phrases.
“He has inspired younger males to emulate jihadists like Burhan Wani, a former commander of Hizbul Mujahideen who devoted his life to a holy struggle in opposition to India,” Perry stated.
He stated that in 2017, Khan lashed out on the US for designating the chief of Hizbul Mujahideen for sanctions, calling these sanctions “unjustifiable”.
Perry additional stated {that a} litany of examples accompanies “Khan’s perverse attachment to Islamic terrorism, which makes it exceedingly apparent that Pakistan has embraced its id as an excellent terrorist state”.
“We all know, as an illustration, that the ambassador-designate is a supporter of the terrorist teams Jamaat-e-Islami, a bunch that assisted in committing genocide within the early Nineteen Seventies, in addition to Serving to Hand for Aid and Improvement, a bunch that had no qualms establishing a partnership with the international terrorist organisation liable for the brutal homicide of 166 individuals through the 2008 Mumbai terror assaults (Lashkar-e-Toiba),” Perry stated.
The Daybreak newspaper reported that Khan had beforehand served as Pakistan’s everlasting consultant to the UN in Geneva and New York, and as ambassador to China.
He was to switch the outgoing ambassador of Pakistan in Washington, Asad Majeed Khan.
The delay has occurred at a time when ties between the 2 allies have turned more and more frosty as a result of geo-political surroundings. The US curiosity in Pakistan has waned after it pulled out of Afghanistan.
Furthermore, Washington seems at ties with Pakistan from the prism of its strategic competitors with China, though Islamabad has repeatedly stated that it was not a part of any camp politics.
Folks within the International Workplace (FO) imagine that the delay was due to Khan’s final place because the “president” of PoK.
On Tuesday, responding to questions, Pakistan International Workplace Spokesperson Asim Iftikhar blamed India for spreading what he known as “faux information” about delay by the US in approving the nomination of its designated ambassador to Washington.
The spokesperson stated Ambassador Khan is a extremely achieved diplomat with 40 years of expertise in each multilateral and bilateral diplomacy.
An American diplomat, who has beforehand labored in Pakistan and is at present in Washington, performed down the scenario as presumably a procedural matter, saying the delay was in all probability as a result of State Division working on most telework due to Omicron.
Furthermore, he stated, Khan’s credentials had been submitted on the cusp of the vacation season which was the slowest interval of your entire yr.
The US had on the finish of October nominated Donald Blome as the brand new envoy to Pakistan. Islamabad has already issued his agrément, in line with the report.
(The article is generated from feeds through CT, The Chenab Occasions workers did not write this information.)
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