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US Congressman urges Biden to reject Imran Khan's pick as next Pak ambassador

Congressman Scott Perry said Masood Khan, who has been selected by the Imran Khan government as the next envoy to the US, has praised both terrorists and foreign terrorist organisations, including Hizbul Mujahideen.

Updated on: Jan 31, 2022, 17:04:01 IST
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US Congressman Scott Perry has written to President Joe Biden urging him to reject Masood Khan as the next ambassador from Pakistan.

File photos of US President Joe Biden and Pakistan PM Imran Khan.
File photos of US President Joe Biden and Pakistan PM Imran Khan.

“While I am encouraged that the State Department has reportedly placed a pause on approving Masood Khan as the new Ambassador from Pakistan, a pause is not enough. I urge you to reject any diplomatic credentials presented to you by Masood Khan and reject any effort by the Government of Pakistan to install this jihadist as Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United States,” the Pennsylvania wrote in the letter.

He said the Imran Khan government’s “nomination of a bona fide terrorist sympathiser working to undermine our interests in the region – as well as the security of our Indian allies – can only be described as a breathtaking lack of judgment at best, and a demonstration of Islamabad’s unmitigated contempt for the United States at worst.”

Perry said Khan has praised both terrorists and foreign terrorist organisations, including Hizbul Mujahideen. “He has encouraged young men to emulate jihadists like Burhan Wani, a former commander of Hizbul Mujahideen who dedicated his life to a holy war against India.”

Khan has also on the United States to free would-be mass murderer Aafia Siddiqui. “In 2010, Siddiqui was convicted of attempting to murder American troops. Since then, jihadists have regularly clamored for her release – to include the perpetrator behind the anti-Semitic hostage crisis in Colleyville, Texas earlier this month,” the letter read.

  • Shishir Gupta
    ABOUT THE AUTHOR
    Shishir Gupta

    Author of Indian Mujahideen: The Enemy Within (2011, Hachette) and Himalayan Face-off: Chinese Assertion and Indian Riposte (2014, Hachette). Awarded K Subrahmanyam Prize for Strategic Studies in 2015 by Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (MP-IDSA) and the 2011 Ben Gurion Prize by Israel.Read More

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