Pakistan’s ambassador-designate is a ‘terrorist sympathiser’, says US Congressman

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 concerning the nomination of Khan as Pakistan’s ambassador to the United States.

“Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’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,” he wrote.
“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,” stated the Member of Congress tenth District, Pennsylvania.
In Islamabad, the Dawn newspaper reported that the US State Department has been taking unusually lengthy to just 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 Department within the second week of November, the report quoted a Pakistani diplomat as saying.
The agrément is the approval of a chosen diplomat by the receiving state.
Normally, the State Department took 4 to 6 weeks to problem agrément for Pakistani ambassadors up to now, based on the report, including that this time they’re taking unusually lengthy.
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 battle 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 identification as a brilliant terrorist state.
“We know, for instance, that the ambassador-designate is a supporter of the terrorist groups Jamaat-e-Islami, a group that assisted in committing genocide in the early 1970s, as well as Helping Hand for Relief and Development, a group that had no qualms establishing a partnership with the foreign terrorist organisation responsible for the brutal murder of 166 people during the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks (Lashkar-e-Taiba),” Perry stated.
The Dawn 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 because of the geo-political setting. The US curiosity in Pakistan has waned after it pulled out of Afghanistan.
Moreover, 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.
People within the Foreign Office (FO) imagine that the delay was due to Khan’s final place because the president of PoK.
FO Spokesman Asim Iftikhar didn’t reply to a question despatched to him on this problem, the report stated.
An American diplomat, who has beforehand labored in Pakistan and is at present in Washington, performed down the scenario as probably a procedural matter, saying the delay was in all probability because of the State Department working on most telework due to Omicron.

Moreover, he stated, Khan’s credentials had been submitted on the cusp of the vacation season which was the slowest interval of the whole 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, based on the report.