A young emerging leader of Pakistani Naziariati Party Shahir Sialvi has claimed that the Pakistan Army fought against the Indian Army for Lashkar e Taiba (LeT) supremo Hafiz Saeed and Jaish e Mohammad (JeM) chief Masood Azhar. In his speech, he portrayed the terrorists killed in Indian strikes as “freedom fighters”.
Referring to Operation Sindoor, he said that even the name of the operation which Pakistan launched in retaliation (Operation Bunyanun Marsoos) was taken from an aayat written on the mosque which was targeted. Those who were there in the mosque were not terrorists and were fighting for the cause of Kashmir, Sialvi claimed.
Sialvi said that just because these people wore salwars above ankles and keep thick beards, the status of freedom fighters cannot be denied to them. He compared the terrorists killed in the Indian Army actions with Fidel Castro, Nelson Mandela, Subhash Chadra Bose and Bhagat Singh. These people were also called terrorists by those opposed to him but they are now described as freedom fighters, he argued.
Sialvi had founded the Pakistani Nazariati Party in January 2022 and is widely seen as someone who has the blessings of Pakistani intelligence agencies. While launching the party, Sialvi had said that the students like him had worked hard for over a decade. As such, they understand the nuances of national politics and many of them had even gone to jail for their ideology.
Sialvi had said that his mission was to make Pakistan a real welfare state according to the ideology of the founders of Pakistan. Ending the distinction between rich and poor is one of our agenda points, he said.
He was speaking at an event organised by supporters of LeT flanked by Islamic religious clerics. India has always said that Pakistan has been using terror proxies as a state policy to carry out terrorist attacks on its people. Sialviโs remarks at the LeT event strengthens those statements.
In the video, available on X, Sialvi said that last year (Operation Sindoor), the Pakistan Army made a clear departure from the past. It stepped forward and said that official khateebs of the Army will conduct the funeral prayers for the men (read terrorists) slain in the Indian strikes. Salvi said he has told Hafiz Saeed that Pakistan Naziariti Party was acting as spokesperson for Saeedโs actions.
Sialvi claimed that the Pakistan Army fought for designated terrorists like Hafiz Saeed and Masood Azhar when India targeted their bases last year during Operation Sindoor.
LeT founder Hafiz Saeed and JeM founder Maulana Masood Azhar are terrorists designated so by the UN. It is being said that the event was also attended by Muzammil Iqbal Hashmi, designated a terrorist by the US.
Sialvi also said when India struck locations in Muridke and Bahawalpur, those fighting for the cause of Kashmir from Pakistanโs soil were killed. After these strikes, Pakistan officially altered its stance on those killed as “freedom fighters” rather than terrorists, he asserted.
The funerals of those killed were led not by ordinary clerics but by religious officials of the Pakistan Army. The Pakistan Army soldiers and officers carried their coffins wearing uniforms, Sialvi said.
Incidentally, after the initial Indian strikes, these pictures of the Pakistani Army men at the funerals of those who had died in Muridke and Bahawalpur were freely available on the Internet.
