‘We took revenge for 1971’: Hafiz Saeed’s aides claim role in Sheikh Hasina’s fall

In a chilling display of triumphalism, senior leaders of Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) — the banned Pakistan-based outfit led by Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed — have publicly claimed credit for fuelling the political unrest that led to the ouster of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina last year.

Speaking at separate rallies across Punjab province, Saifullah Kasuri and Muzammil Hashmi — the latter designated a global terrorist by the United Nations — boasted that their network was instrumental in driving the student-led protests that forced Hasina to flee to India on August 5. Three days later, Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus was installed as Chief Adviser to Bangladesh’s interim government.

“I was four years old when Pakistan was dismembered in 1971,” said Kasuri during a fiery speech in Rahim Yar Khan. “Indira Gandhi said she had drowned the two-nation theory in the Bay of Bengal. On May 10, we avenged 1971.”

He also lamented the death of a fellow JuD member, Mudassar, killed in an Indian airstrike on JuD’s headquarters in Muridke on May 7 — a retaliatory move following the Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 civilians in India on April 22. “I cried a lot on the day of his funeral,” Kasuri said, without clarifying why he was barred from attending. Yet, high-ranking military, police, and civil officials reportedly attended the service — a detail that lays bare the troubling nexus between banned extremist outfits and sections of Pakistan’s state apparatus.

“I was in my constituency when the Pahalgam attack happened. India called me the mastermind,” Kasuri declared. “Now the world knows my city, Kasur.”

Meanwhile, in Gujranwala, Hashmi struck a similarly defiant tone. “We defeated you in Bangladesh last year,” he told the crowd, directly addressing Indian leadership.

Their speeches — soaked in militant bravado and calls for “preparing the next generation for jihad” — have sparked global alarm, particularly as Pakistan continues to face intense international scrutiny for its perceived tolerance of extremist groups.

Reacting to the developments, former Pakistani ambassador Hussain Haqqani said: “The rhetoric of jihadi extremists at their public rallies makes it difficult for the rest of the world to believe official assertions that Pakistan is no longer sponsoring or tolerating them.”

With regional tensions once again on edge, the public resurgence of JuD’s leadership — and their unabashed declarations of geopolitical sabotage — raises urgent questions about state complicity, counterterrorism credibility, and the future of South Asian stability.