LAHORE: Jamaatud Dawa (JuD) spokesman Yahya Mujahid Wednesday expressed concern over British Broadcasting Corporation’s (BBC) report in which the broadcaster accused Hafiz Muhammad Saeed of fanning jihadist sentiments in Glasgow before 9/11, by terming it a bundle of lies.
He said, “Talks about Hafiz Muhammad Saeed are based on tampered information which is regrettable. Facts have been deliberately distorted under an organised conspiracy.” In his statement, he said that the JuD chief taught at an engineering university for 25 years and also headed an Islamic Studies department.
BBC had mentioned in its report that Saeed had been invited in the capacity of an educationist belonging to the University of Engineering and Technology (UET), Lahore, and as an Islamic scholar by the British Muslim Organisation. He visited the United Kingdom (UK) with the permission of UET’s administration.
The spokesman further said, “Hafiz Saeed’s visit was purely educational in purpose. It is unfortunate how the Indian and Western media is unleashing baseless propaganda against Islam and Muslims. BBC has tried to contribute to this vicious campaign by referring to Hafiz Saeed’s educational visits in the 90s as controversial.”
He also said, “As a professor of UET, Hafiz Saeed’s visit to Glasgow in the 90s was similar to the visits of other Islamic scholars from Pakistan who have been invited to foreign countries to deliver lectures.” He claimed that BBC report had nothing to do with reality.