Pakistan's PM said that any sanctions against Pakistan would be counter-productive to "the largest war on terror in the world". This, in a country where a high court freed 26/11 Mumbai terror mastermind Hafiz Saeed. Both Saeed and his Jamaat-ud-Dawa organisation are on designated terrorist lists of the US and the UN

by Shailaja Neelakantan

NEW DELHI: This may be hard to believe of a place that lets Hafiz Saeed roam free, but Pakistan's prime minister has said his country's battle with militants is the "largest war on terror in the world", reported Reuters news agency.

Shahid Abbasi, Pakistan's PM, said that any sanctions against Pakistan - like the US has threatened - would be counter-productive to the country's own battle against Islamist militants, which he then proceeded to describe to Reuters as "the largest war on terror in the world".

As retaliation for US President Donald Trump's blistering attacks on Pakistan for providing "safe havens to agents of chaos and terror", Abbasi raised the possibility of charging the US money to use its airspace for supplies to Afghanistan.

Both 26/11 Mumbai terror mastermind Saeed and his Jamaat-ud-Dawa organisation are on designated terrorist lists of the US as well as the United Nations (UN). Still, Lahore high court in November ordered Saeed be set free from house arrest. Then, last week, Abbasi said Saeed can't be prosecuted because there is no case against him.

While this comment of Abbasi's isn't mentioned in the interview report by Reuters, the Pakistan PM did talk about taking over Saeed's so-called charities. That must mean Pakistan is worried, especially after the US has blocked as much as $2 billion in military aid to it.

"Yes, the government will take over the charities which are sanctioned and not allowed to operate," said Abbasi, 59, to Reuters in an interview at the prime minister's chamber in Pakistan's Parliament in Islamabad.

Abbasi didn't say by when this would happen, except that it would.

"Everybody is on board, everybody is on the same page, everybody is committed to implementation of UN sanctions," he said.

Still, when a UN team monitoring sanctions visits Pakistan later this week, Pakistan won't give it access to Saeed or any of his organisations, a prominent Pakistani newspaper reported yesterday.