Vocal Pakistan Tehrik i Insaaf activist, and actor turned political television talk show host Hamza Ali Abbasi has landed in some hot water over his almost aggressive defence of Jammat ud Dawwa chief and internationally acclaimed terrorist, Hafiz Saeed.
Abbasi made his comments on twitter in regards to the recently concluded elections in the NA-120 constituency of Lahore, vacated by former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. The comments come after the JuD’s newly minted political front, the Mili Muslim League (MML), came third in the polls with its candidate leaving Pakistan People’s Party hopeful Faisal Mir far behind in a humiliating defeat.
In his series of tweets, Abbasi said “US/IND say he is a terrorist, i know Hafiz Saeed as a righteous man. Huge respect for Milli Muslim League for getting 4k+ votes.”
He went on to say “Hafiz Saeed has done gr8 work against Takfeer & Sectarianism, social work for non Muslims of Pak & is a mentor to Kashmiris” as well as “Hafiz Saeed doesn’t hate India or Indians. He only hates & speaks against Indian Govt’s atrocities in Indian Occupied Kashmir.”
The comments in defence of Hafiz Saeed came as a surprise to many of the people that follow Abbasi on social media. Well known for his outspoken stance on different social and political issues and his generally conservative outlook, people were still surprised by the ferocity with which he took to his task.
People did call his actions into question however, saying that while other’s were trying to learn a lesson from the worrying statistics, Abbasi was doing his best to support and defend Hafiz Saeed and his Mili Muslim League.
Meanwhile, it is pertinent to not that this is not the first time that Abbasi has expressed his admiration and respect for Hafiz Saeed. Earlier this year in February, he privately interviewed Saeed in which he give him a platform to try and clear himself. A visibly awed Abbasi played mouthpiece to him and had nothing but praise in his pre-interview analysis.
