Masood Azhar is not Maulana but a butcher of humanity: Owaisi

Hyderabad: AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Saturday hit out at Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan for playing the nuclear and Muslim cards against India and denounced Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terror outfits, describing these as “demon” outfits.

Attacking Khan, he said the Pakistan Prime Minister makes “weird” comments in his country’s Parliament.

“He (Khan) says we have atom bomb, etc. Do we not have those? We also have,” Owaisi said addressing a gathering here.

He also asked Khan to desist from playing the Muslim card to target India.
“Muslims of this country know better. Handle your ‘Lashkar-e-Shaitaan’ (a reference to Lashkar-e-Taiba) and Jaish-e-Shaitaan (a reference to Jaish-e-Mohammad),” the Lok Sabha member said, in his message to the Pakistan Prime Minister.

The Muslim leader also denounced JeM chief Masood Azhar, saying he should not be called a “Maulana” but a “devil’s dog and butcher of humanity”.

“Exploding bombs, attacking people is not Islam,” the MP from Hyderabad said, adding “India’s enemies are our (Muslims’) enemies too.”

Owaisi also slammed Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi who said yesterday that Masood Azhar is in Pakistan but “too ill”.

“He (Qureshi) asked for evidence. What more evidence do they need? His organisation (Jaish-e-Mohammad) is banned,” he said.

Owaisi said Khan was also misrepresenting the role of Tipu Sultan and Bahadur Shah Zafar in his speeches.

“Tipu Sultan was never against Hindus but against his regime, whosoever led those,” he said.

He expressed happiness over the return of Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, was in Pakistan’s captivity after his MiG-21 fighter plane was shot down on February 27.

The AIMIM chief also went on to add, “We praised the government over air strikes (on JeM camp in Balakot) in response to the Pulwama terror attack. But, now the Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) needs to answer, how the terrorists were able to procure explosives? How they got hold of American weapons? Why was there intelligence and diplomatic failures? ”

Addressing a gathering in Hyderabad on the occasion of 61st revival day of AIMIM, he said, “Sixty years ago, at this very place, Jinnah came. We didn’t accept Jinnah’s message. We said India is our country.”

“Those who understood Islam, stayed in India while the ‘razakars’ (volunteers), who adhered to the message of Mohammad Ali Jinnah, went to Pakistan,” the AIMIM chief said.

Owaisi also claimed that all sorts of allegations were levelled against him in the last four years. “What was our mistake? Are we against Hindus? Are we against Dalits?” he questioned.

“You may doubt because I am a Muslim but if BJP is saying ‘mera booth, sabse mazboot' (my booth is the strongest), then I am saying ‘mera sarhad majboot toh desh mazboot' (if my borders are protected, then my country is protected). So when you vote, keep in mind what is good for the nation and not the strength of someone’s booth,” AIMIM chief told the gathering.

He also vowed to 'finish BJP from Secundarabad and Congress from entire Telangana'.