The United States has rejected Pakistan’s ambassador to the United States Masood Khan on allegations of his jihadist connections. He was nominated for the post in November 2021. Masood Khan’s appointment has been blocked from Washington DC and he has been virtually barred from taking charge. A letter from Pennsylvania Republican Rep. and Congressman Scott Perry in this regard has been obtained by several media outlets.
Scott Perry said, President Joe Biden has asked him to stop accepting Masood Khan as Pakistan’s ambassador to the US. He described him as a jihadist and indeed a terrorist sympathizer who is working to undermine American interests and undermine the security of the American allies in the world. It is further learnt from a credible source that Pakistani embassy in Washington including Masood Khan had played active role behind recent US sanctions on Bangladesh’s elite force Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and several officers of this organization. Khan was holding secret meetings with the representatives of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and Jamaat-e-Islami.
Commenting on the Pakistani envoy, Scott Perry in his letter said, “Imran Khan’s nominee has, in fact, acted as a terrorist sympathizer to undermine US interests in the region, and has described the security of US Indian allies as merely a lack of justice. I urge you to reject any diplomatic credentials of Masood Khan and reject any attempt by the Pakistani government to include this jihadist as Pakistan’s ambassador to the United States”.
Masood Khan joined Pakistan foreign service in 1980. Hailing to a Pashtun family, Khan is a radical Muslim with clear inclination towards religious hatred and jihad. He also is prominent anti-Semite. He has served in a number of countries as Pakistan’s representative, including Islamabad’s permanent representative to the United Nations. During 2016 to 2020, Masood Khan served as the president of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. During this period, he had established personal rapport with a number of radical Islamic jihadist groups, including Lashkar-e-Toiba and Pakistani Taliban. Being the president of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, Khan had extended patronization and fund to several terrorist plots targeting various parts of Jammu and Kashmir as well as other parts of India.
It may be mentioned here that, Masood Khan is a diehard supporter of Jamaat-e-Islami, which helped Pakistan to carry out genocide against Bangladesh in 1971. He thanked various Islamist militancy groups for its terrorist activities in Jammu and Kashmir. Not only that, Masood Khan is a supporter of convicted key terrorist Afia Siddiqui, known as Lady Al-Qaeda. He has publicly spoken out in support of her release on several occasions.
Masood Khan’s name is also associated with the IHH in Turkey. The IHH is a controversial humanitarian relief foundation and an extremist organization disguised as a charity. It has often been accused of supplying weapons to al-Qaeda. Khan also is affiliated with the US Council of Muslim Organizations, a group of America’s top Islamist organizations, which has participation of a number of Jamaat-e-Islami leaders.
According to credible sources, during his stay in Washington DC, Massod Khan was maintaining regular connections with the members of Jamaat-e-Islami, Khalistan Movement as well as other anti-Hindu, anti-Israel and anti-India groups and individuals. He has been particularly hostile towards Bangladesh and considers Bangladesh Nationalist Party and Jamaat-e-Islami as allies. He has played key role behind preparations of a number of dossiers against Bangladesh’s ruling party Awami League and was also influencing Pakistani and Islamist media, including Qatari terror broadcast network Al Jazeera in running offensive propaganda against Bangladesh and Awami League.
Another source said, Masood Khan serves the agenda of Pakistani spy agency Inter Service Intelligence (ISI).
According to National Review, Khan is a “dangerous extremist, who has a long history of cooperating with Jihadists”. His coming into power, it said, represents a dangerous Pakistani regime that seeks to strengthen Islamic radicals across the world, particularly in the United States.
Khan has been labelled as a longstanding supporter of Islamist terrorism and Taliban allies. Burhan Wani, a deceased Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist, was called “Kashmir’s most beloved freedom fighter” by him. There have also been official press releases sent out from his office that backed many other terrorist groups and individuals.
Khan was also seen attending various events sharing a stage with individuals who were designated as terrorists by international agencies, pictures supporting the claim have surfaced online.
Excerpts from speeches that he gave in Jamaat-e-Islami events and rallies show that he paid tribute to Jamaat Islami activists for playing a crucial role in Pakistan and AJK. Jamaat-e-Islami is a violent Islamic movement that has assisted the Pakistani military in carrying out acts of genocide.
Khan has also posted pictures with Ghazala Habib who leads Friends of Kashmir, a group that is openly aligned with jihadist causes.
Meanwhile, Pakistani media has accused India for playing role behind Washington’s decision of rejecting Masood Khan.
It may be mentioned here that, Pennsylvania Republican Rep. and Congressman Scott Perry’s letter to Joe Biden is a result of series of investigative reports published by Blitz during the past several months. For this, we would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to Congressman Scott Perry and hope, he will continue to combat religious extremism and radical Islamic terrorism in the days and years to come.
