New Delhi: Top Pakistani diplomats and Western scholars have purportedly cancelled their scheduled appearances in a webinar being organised by a Pakistan-based think tank after allegations surfaced online that a sanctioned Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militant was among the moderators of the event.
The webinar, organised by the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS), is slated to take place on 15 June and moderated by former LeT media official Abdullah Muntazir.
Muntazir, who now goes by the name Abdullah Khan, is the managing director of Islamabad-based PICSS, according to his Twitter bio.
Titled ‘Pak-US relations: Pragmatism vs Idealism’, the webinar seeks to discuss Pakistan’s relations with the international community, especially the US.
According to a PICSS concept note seen by ThePrint, the objective of the webinar is to “ensure Pakistan’s relations with the international community, particularly the United States, are not adversely affected by internal dynamics or emerging debates within the Washington Beltway”.
“Inside the Beltway” is an American phrase that refers to matters that are important primarily to US officials, lobbyists and other key players in Washington DC.
Allegations against Abdullah ‘Khan’ Muntazir were first made by Wajahat S. Khan, senior fellow at American think tank Atlantic Council, on Twitter Friday. He claimed Muntazir underwent a “personal rebranding” and altered his name to Abdullah Khan.
Abdullah Khan @AbdullahKhan333 is truly talented.
Firstly, he's creative — even with his name.
See, before he was Abdullah Khan, he was Abdullah Muntazir / Muntazer (source: https://t.co/e2xDVyBdyA) pic.twitter.com/ragNdQNEQl
— Wajahat S. Khan (@WajSKhan) June 8, 2023
Replying to the allegations, the former LeT official confirmed his identity and past associations with terror organisation LeT’s political wing, Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD).
“Yes, indeed, I worked with JuD till 2009. When the Government of Pakistan banned it, I left it. I had challenged the decision of the [US] treasury department [to place sanctions]…”, he wrote.
Yes, indeed, I worked with JuD till 2009. When the government of Pakistan banned it, I left it. I had challenged the decision of the treasury department, but after years, they replied to me to submit my application again in 2019. I don't hv resources to hire a lawyer in the US
— Abdullah Khan (@AbdullahKhan333) June 8, 2023
According to a graphic of the webinar seen by ThePrint, other speakers include Pakistan’s ambassador to the US, Masood Khan, international policy analyst Syed Muhammad Ali, Pakistani journalist Ahmed Quraishi, ex-army officer and diplomat Major General (Retired) Saad Khattak, Michael Kugelman from US-based The Wilson Center, Dr. Marvin G Weinbaum from America-based Middle East Institute, and Pakistan’s former federal minister for law Ahmer Bilal Soofi.
Khattak, also PICSS chairman, has delivered a few lectures for the think tank, most recently in May and November 2022.
Ambassador Masood Khan also spoke at a PICSS event in November 2020.
Meanwhile, following Wajahat’s post, Kugelman publicly announced that he will not attend the event. “Let me clarify: I am NOT participating in this event and I told the organizers that yesterday,” he wrote.
Let me clarify: I am NOT participating in this event and I told the organizers that yesterday. https://t.co/XJDFWol7UU
— Michael Kugelman (@MichaelKugelman) June 8, 2023
In a subsequent post, Wajahat claimed that he had also heard from the office of Masood Khan that he won’t be attending the event.
ThePrint emailed some of the other speakers for comment, but received no response till the time of publication of this report.
Quraishi told ThePrint over WhatsApp that he is undecided on whether to attend it.
ThePrint also reached PICSS on email to inquire whether the webinar will still be held, but received no response till the time of publication of this report.
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Who is Abdullah Muntazir?
Muntazir, was born in January 1974 in Abbottabad, Pakistan.
The 49-year-old has in the past served as a media official for LeT, starting as a spokesman for the terror organisation’s political wing, Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD). In August 2012, the US Treasury Department placed sanctions on Muntazir.
According to the US Treasury Department’s website, Muntazir has been a LET media official since at least 1999 and in recent years has presented himself as an “independent scholar on militancy issues”.
From 2005 to early 2009, he served as LET’s spokesman for international media.
In 2008, he is said to have founded Ghazwa, a LeT weekly publication and served as its editor. His work also allegedly entailed delivering speeches and recruiting supporters to LET from across Pakistan.
According to South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP), which functions under the Delhi-based research body, Institute for Conflict Management, Muntazir was an active JuD spokesman in 2008.
On 11 December 2008, when LeT co-founder Hafiz Mohammad Saeed was placed under house arrest for three months, Muntazir was regularly providing statements to the press.
“Police have encircled the house of Hafiz Saeed and told him he cannot leave his home. They have told him that the detention order will be formally issued shortly,” Muntazir had been quoted as saying at the time.
In 2000, British journalist Andrew Whitehead interviewed a young Muntazir during which he had reportedly explained his missions as an armed militant and how his family was involved in the tribal fighters’ invasion of the Kashmir Valley in 1947-48.
While speaking to Whitehead, Muntazir, who would have been 26 years old at the time, narrated how he and other militants would cross over to Indian-occupied Kashmir over a three-day journey.
“In our guerilla warfare training, we are taught how to enter Indian [occupied Kashmir] side…That was very difficult. We crossed the Line of Control around 1am in the night…and walked for the whole night. When we reached the top of a mountain, we were very hungry. There was a Kashmiri man there who gave us food. It was a three-day journey,” Muntazir had been quoted as saying.
(Edited by Poulomi Banerjee)
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