Former Pakistan minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed has drawn flak for lauding and expressing support for the banned outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) chief Hafiz Saeed and issuing threats against India at a public event.
For the unversed, Hafiz Saeed is a UN-designated global terrorist. He is infamous as the mastermind of multiple terror attacks in India, including the 26/11 Mumbai attacks.
In a video from the event that has now gone viral, Rasheed is seen sharing stage with Khalid Masood Sandhu, identified as a senior LeT commander and Qari Muhammad Yaqoob Sheikh, a member of the terror outfit’s central advisory committee.
Addressing the event, the former minister heaped praise on Hafiz Saeed and described himself as a “slave” of the LeT chief. “Main Hafiz sahab
ka ghulam hoon (I am a slave of Hafiz Saeed)”, India Today reported.
🚨 EXPOSED: “I AM A FOLLOWER OF HAFIZ SAEED SAAB”: PTI LEADER SHEIKH RASHEED’S SHOCKING ADMISSION
Former Pakistani minister and Imran Khan ally Sheikh Rasheed openly declared himself a “follower and servant” of Hafiz Saeed.
He claimed he was kicked out of the US because Hafiz… pic.twitter.com/OJEilhAPoR
— OsintTV 📺 (@OsintTV) August 12, 2026
Rasheed claimed that he was kicked out of the United States after Saeed’s number appeared on his mobile phone.
He also issued inflammatory threats against India saying Allah would destroy the country if it “even looked towards Pakistan”. “No birds will chirp in India, nor will bells ring in a temple”.
He declared, “We are with Pakistan, with Hafiz Saeed”, according to India Today.
Founder of the Awami Muslim League, Rasheed served as the Interior Minister in the Imran Khan government from 2020 to 2022. At present, Khan is lodged in the Adiala Jail in connection with multiple case, including corruption over state gifts, graft allegations tied to land trusts, and charges related to civil unrest.
India-Pakistan Ties
Relations between India and Pakistan –– two nuclear-armed neighbours –– have remained largely strained over multiple issues, including Islamabad’s illegal occupation of a part of Kashmir and cross-border terrorism.
In 2025, bilateral relations between the two countries deteriorated further following the April 22 Pahalgam attack and New Delhi’s subsequent military response to the assault that had killed 26 people.
India launched ‘Operation Sindoor’ in May and struck nine terror camps in Pakistan’s Punjab province and PoK, killing over a hundred terrorists. While New Delhi maintained that the strikes were “precise, measured, and non-escalatory”, Islamabad launched a series of attacks targeting Indian bordering states.
The three-day cross-border conflict that resulted on casualties on both sides ended with a ceasefire.
