DNA India : A history of violence

A history of violence

[excerpt from "Pak amends anti-woman laws"]

November 15, 2006

LAHORE: The parliamentary secretary for defence in the Pakistani federal cabinet, Major Tanvir Hussain (Retd), made history of sorts by proudly confessing on the floor of the house his active links with the defunct jehadi organisation, Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT).

In an apparent rebuttal of the Pakistan government’s claim that Hafiz-Saeed led jehadi group Lashkar-e-Toiba has already shifted its headquarters to Indian administered Kashmir, the Major disclosed: “I want to inform the house that I have been a member of the Lashkar-e-Toiba”, he declared in the flow of his spirited speech, adding that it is a jehadi group and not a terrorist organisation.

Besides reaffirming his links with the LeT, which was proscribed as a terrorist organization by General Musharraf in January 2002, he felt no hesitation in revealing that he often addressed the congregations of the LeT to deliver speeches doing advocacy for jehad.