Hardliner Saad Rizvi Tells Pak Govt to Threaten Nations with ‘Atom Bomb’ instead of ‘Begging’ for Aid


Edited By: Shankhyaneel Sarkar

Last Updated: February 02, 2023, 15:06 IST

Saad Hussain Rizvi, chief of Islamist political party Tehrik-e-Labaik Pakistan (TLP), gestures to his supporters after being released from jail in Lahore, Pakistan (Image: Reuters)

Hardliner, far-right leader of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Labbaik said the Shehbaz Sharif government was weak and urged it to threaten nations to send Pakistan aid

Hardliner Islamist leader Saad Rizvi, who heads the previously banned Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan party, earlier in January, asked the Pakistan government to go to nations with a nuclear bomb and demand money, instead of begging for aid.

Rizvi was talking about the burning of Quran in Sweden and Netherlands and said that the response by the Pakistani government was weak. He said the Pakistan government failed to teach those who burnt the holy book a lesson.

“They have sent the prime minister, his entire cabinet and his chief of army staff to beg for economic aid. Instead, I suggest taking the Holy Quran in one hand and taking the atom bomb suitcase in the other hand and then speaking to the leaders of other nations, then they will all bow down to Pakistan,” Rizvi said in a video.

Pakistan is currently experiencing an economic crisis and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has sent a team to Islamabad to work with the government and ensure its recommendations are implemented following which it will disburse at least $1.2bn which was earlier suspended pending review.

It will also allow other countries who have friendly relations with Pakistan to also release funds so that it can mitigate the economic issues it has been facing.

However, TLP chief Rizvi through his speech said that there was no need of having discussions with nations and Pakistan could coerce them through threats.

Rizvi’s speech was met with raucous cheers. The rally was held in Lahore and according to a report by the Associated Press, at least 12,000 people attended the rally.

Rizvi’s TLP was previously banned in Pakistan but in 2021 activists from the party forced the then Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan to release their leader from Kot Lakhpat Jail in Lahore while also ensuring that his name is struck off the the Fourth Schedule – a list on which suspects of terrorism are put under the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997.

(with inputs from Shalinder Wangu)

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