Trump set to end all aid to Pakistan for playing double game with US: Haley

US President Donald Trump is prepared to stop all funding to Pakistan until it stops harbouring terrorists, US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley has said.

Haley's comment came a day after Trump accused Pakistan of giving nothing to the US but "lies and deceit" and providing "safe haven" to terrorists in return for $33 billion aid over the last 15 years.

Speaking to reporters at a news conference at the UN headquarters in New York, Haley alleged Pakistan of playing "double-game" with the US for years.

"The president is willing to go to great lengths to stop all funding from Pakistan as they continue to harbour and support terrorism," said Haley.

"Pakistan has played a double game for years. They work with us at times, and they also harbour the terrorists that attack our troops in Afghanistan. That game is not acceptable to this administration," she said.

The US has also announced that it is withholding its $255 million military aid to Pakistan.

"The decision to block aid is connected to Pakistan's harbouring of terrorists," the top American diplomat said.

Pakistan has expressed "deep disappointment" over the allegations, saying the accusations strike with "great insensitivity" at the "trust" between the two countries.

Pakistan's Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif in a tweet challenged Trump's claim that the US has given Pakistan more than $33 billion dollars as aid over the last 15 years, saying verification by an audit firm would prove the US president wrong.
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LeT men are patriotic, let them form a political party: Musharraf

Former Pakistan president General (retd) Pervez Musharraf on Saturday said he was ready to enter into an alliance with Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) for Islamabad's 'safety and security'.

This statement has come almost a month after he claimed he was the biggest supporter of the two parties.

"They (LeT and JuD men) are patriotic people, they have laid their lives for Pakistan, who can object if they form a political party," ARY News quoted Musharraf, as saying.

So far the two parties have not approached him but if they desire to enter into an alliance with his party, he has no objection, he added.

He further said, "I am a liberal and a moderate but that doesn't mean that I detest religious elements, I am the biggest supporter of Lashkar-e-Taiba and I know that they too like me, the people from Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD)."

Musharraf, a month back, had said he liked the global terrorist, JuD chief Hafiz Saeed, and had met him.

The former president added he was always in favour of terrorist action in Kashmir, and the LeT and the JuD were the biggest forces to take on the Indian Army in the state.

The US had strongly condemned the release of LeT leader Hafiz Saeed from house arrest and called for his immediate re-arrest and prosecution.
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Pakistan EC rejects Hafiz Saeed-linked MML's registration application

Pakistan's Election Commission today rejected an application for registration of Milli Muslim League, an offshoot of Hafiz Saeed's banned Jamaat-ud-Dawah, as a political party after the Interior Ministry raised objections over its links with the terrorist groups.

The League had applied for registration with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for recognition as a political party so that it could use the platform to contest elections.

The ECP rejected the application after a hearing and asked the party to get clearance from the Interior Ministry which, through a letter, had asked the election commission not to register MML due to its ties to banned terrorist outfits.

"The Interior Ministry's letter mentions that the MML is backed by banned terrorist outfits," chief election commissioner Sardar Raza Khan said.

In a detailed letter last month, the ministry advised the ECP to ban the newly formed MML as it was associated with Saeed, who carries a $10 million US bounty on his head.

Saeed's JuD has already been declared as a foreign terrorist organisation by the United States in June 2014.

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