INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan's junior interior minister has vowed to "protect" Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed and his party.The
leaked video showed Minister of State for Interior Shehryar Afridi talking to Milli Muslim League (MML) leaders and when his attention was
drawn towards non-registration of Hafiz Saeed's party by the Election Commission (ECP) as a political party due to the US pressure and the
ECP's plan to declare it a terrorist organisation, the minister said: "We will not let this happen.""As long as we (the Pakistan
Tehreek-e-Insaaf) are in the government all those including Hafiz Saeed who are raising voice for Pakistan and righteousness, we are with
them," Mr Afridi said, adding "this is our belief.""I request you to come to the National Assembly and see whether we are supporting those
who on the right path or not," he told them.Saeed was declared a global terrorist by the US and the UN after the 2008 Mumbai attack and was
put under house arrest in November 2008 but freed by a court some months later
He carries a USD 10 million American bounty on his head for his role in terror activities.India has been demanding Pakistan not only to
arrest the Lashkar-e-Taiba founder and try him in the Mumbai attack case but also punish all those involved in this carnage."As long as we
(the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf) are in the government all those including Hafiz Saeed who are raising voice for Pakistan and righteousness,
we are with them," Shehryar Afridi said, adding "this is our belief."In the leaked video, an MML leader said the high court ordered the ECP
to register the MML as a political party but the top election body said that it had come to know that the US had declared MML a terrorist
organisation.On this, the minister assured that "this will not happen in the Imran Khan's government."Saeed launched the MML in August 2017
with a so-called mission to implement the ideology of Pakistan in accordance with the 1973 Constitution.In April, the US placed the MML on
its list of foreign terror organisations for its links with the Lashkar-e-Taiba.The interior ministry had written to the ECP recommending to
not register the MML as it is an off-shoot of Saeed's Jamaat-ud Dawah, which has been declared as a foreign terrorist organisation by the US
in June 2014.The JuD is believed to be the front organisation for the Lashkar-e-Taiba which is responsible for carrying out the 2008 Mumbai
attack that killed 166 people.The MML contested general elections on the platform of the "dormant" political entity Allaha-u-Akbar Tehreek
(AAT), which was registered with the ECP.The Supreme Court in September last permitted the JuD and its arm Falah-e-Insaniyat Foundation
(FIF) to continue their relief and charity work in the country.JuD's network includes 300 seminaries and schools, hospitals, a publishing
house and ambulance services
The JuD and FIF alone have about 50,000 volunteers and hundreds of other paid workers, according to two counter-terrorism officials.Earlier,
the government banned companies and individuals from making donations to the JuD, the FIF, and other organisations on the UN Security
