Related post: The banned outfit and General Hameed Gul’s Lies

Chief of banned militant outfit Lashkar-e-Jhangvi Malik Ishaq was in attendance at the Difa-e-Pakistan Council rally in Multan, a spokesperson for the council’s member organisation Jamaatud Dawa has said.

“General (retd) Hamid Gul was wrong in denying Ishaq’s presence at the rally. He was present on stage,” said Yahya Mujahid, a spokesperson for Islamic chairty, which is blacklisted by the United Nations for its alleged ties to LeJ but not by the Pakistan government.

Gul, in an interview with Express News television channel, had categorically denied that Ishaq was present at the rally.

“It was DPC’s unanimous decision that Ishaq will not address the rally,” Mujahid told The Express Tribune on Friday. “It’s a simple rule that whoever addresses the people from stage at a DPC rally cannot be a member of a banned militant outfit.”

Mujahid was attending an emergency protest, called by the JuD outside their main mosque Jamia Qudsia in Lahore under the DPC’s banner, against resumption of Nato supply routes and trade talks with India. The council has also called a meeting of heads of member parties on February 19 in Islamabad.

Apology to media

He also apologised for statements made against the media at the council’s Karachi rally. “The statements should be condemned in the strongest terms. I, as a representative of JuD, have written letters of apology to media organisations.”

Funding

The spokesperson said that the DPC is an organised platform. “Funding [for the organisation] is provided by member parties while host parties for different rallies fund events in their own cities,” he explained. For instance, he said, JuD hosted the Lahore rally, Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat (Sipah-e-Sahaba) organised the one in Multan, Sheikh Rasheed hosted the Rawalpindi event and Jamat-e-Islami hosted the Karachi rally. “The nationwide networks of all member parties provide support in organisational procedures.”

Source: Express Tribune – By Rabia Mehmood

Some comments:

Salahuddin

Well done ET, as I myself watched an Interview in which Hamid Gul catagorically denied this fact and questioned the credibity of ET and the reporter, who reprted about Malik’s presence in Defa-e-Pakistan rally in Multan. When Gul was shown the photographic eveidence, he plainly refused to accept the truth and declared it as an engineered photograph. Now, can anyone tell me how such liars claim to be champion of Islam?

Khurshid

could this rainbow of such charming religious hardliners have been possible without some nudging and pushing from the right quarters? Consider the presence of Hamid Gul, Shaikh Rashid, Ijazul Haq each one with their loyalties to the”right” quarters. Consider Samiul Haq the father of the “good Taliban” and Mr. Saeed of JUD and LT fame, needing no intro to his connections. Consider also the absence of Fazlur Rehman, who has been spouting anti national security state rhetoric of late, and the identity of the patrons doesnt remain much of a mystery. But why? Why do the “boys” need these beards? Maybe not willing to put all the eggs in the skipper’s basket? Maybe the west needs to be constantly reminded why we cant “do more”. As ALice said in Wonderland, “it gets curiouser and curiouser”.