Reject Imran's pick as next Pak ambassador, US lawmaker to Biden

In a major embarrassment for Pakistan, the US on Monday paused Masood Khan's appointment as the new Pakistan ambassador for the United States over possible terror links. US Congressman Scott Perry has written to President Joe Biden urging him to reject Masood as the next ambassador from Pakistan. He said that the US should reject any efforts of Imran Khan's administration to install 'Jihadist' Khan as Pakistan's Ambassador to the US. He said the Imran Khan government’s “nomination of a bona fide terrorist sympathiser working to undermine our interests in the region – as well as the security of our Indian allies – can only be described as a breathtaking lack of judgment at best, and a demonstration of Islamabad’s unmitigated contempt for the United States at worst.”

In his letter, Scott Perry pointed out that the Pakistan Ambassador-designate to the US had called on America to free convicted terrorist Aafia Siddiqui. “In 2010, Siddiqui was convicted of attempting to murder American troops. Since then, jihadists have regularly clamoured for her release – to include the perpetrator behind the anti-Semitic hostage crisis in Colleyville, Texas earlier this month,” the letter read.  Pery added that Khan is a supporter of the terrorist groups Jamaat-e-Islami, as well as Helping Hand for Relief and Development, a group that had no qualms establishing a partnership with the foreign terrorist organisation responsible for the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks.