Hafiz Abdur Rehman Makki, brother-in-law of Hafiz Saeed

PESHAWAR: The chief minister of Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Pervez Khattak, was reportedly seen sharing the stage with banned terror outfit Jamaat-ud-Dawa’s (JuD) leader and terrorist Hafiz Abdur Rehman Makki, during a public meeting of the Difa-i-Pakistan Council (DPC), in Peshawar on Sunday.

The participation of Khattak, a Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader, in the conference stirred a controversy in the political circles.

Makki is the brother-in-law of United Nations-designated terrorist and 26/11 Mumbai terror mastermind Hafiz Saeed.

Saeed addressed the council’s ‘Tahaffuz Baitul Muqaddas Conference’ via telephone after he was stopped by the Punjab Government from attending the conference, the Dawn reported.

Makki was present on the stage in the absence of Saeed.

“Imran Khan was a strong critic of the DPC, but his party’s chief minister shared the stage with leaders of extremist groups,” Dawn quoted Awami National Party’s information secretary Zahid Khan, as saying.

However, the PTI has not joined the DPC, which is a coalition of more than 40 Pakistani political and religious parties.

Maulana Samiul Haq’s Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI-S), which recently formed an electoral alliance with the PTI, is a member of the DPC.

Addressing the conference, Maulana Samiul Haq, who is also chairman of the DPC, said, “America should not consider Pakistan a piece of cake. Its forces had suffered defeat in Afghanistan and Pakistan will be the worst graveyard for Americans,”

He said US President Donald Trump had declared “war against Pakistan” by issuing threatening statements. 

Trump recently castigated Pakistan for providing safe havens to terrorists, following which America announced to cut off military aid to Pakistan, for not taking "necessary steps" to curb terrorism.