Olympic gold medalist Ashraf Nadeem enters into controversy over meeting 'LeT operative'

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Olympic gold medallist Arshad Nadeem, who is enjoying a grand welcome on his home coming, has entered into a controversy after he met an individual with links to the banned outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).

In a viral video on social media, Arshad Nadeem, the star javelin thrower who claimed gold at the Paris Olympics, was seen sharing pleasant moments with Haris Dar, a member of Milli Muslim League (MML), the political face of Jamat-ud-Dawa (JUD) and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) in Pakistan..

Haris Dar was seen sitting with Arshad Nadeem at his hometown in Mian Channu in Pakistan’s Punjab province. Local sources said that Haris Dar is a known political figure in the area and that he had come to congratulate Arshad Nadeem on his achievement.

However, the visuals of Haris Dar sitting next to Arshad Nadeem have sparked a serious controversy across the social media with concerns and questions being raised over the presence of proscribed groups and designated individuals under different political covers.

It is pertinent to note that Haris Dar’s name is also in the US’ Treasury Department’s list of proscribed persons under the title 'Specially Designated Global Terrorists'.

His name was enlisted by the United States in 2018 for his active role in the banned outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).

Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) has been on United Nations' identified list of terrorist organisations, making Haris Dar even more controversial.

After the Pakistan government opted to take action against Hafiz Saeed and all of the affiliate organisations operating out of Pakistan, a new political party, Milli Muslim League (MML), was formed to provide political cover, shelter and presence to many operatives of JUD.

The MML was founded in 2017 and had even contested the 2018 elections, followed by the 2024 polls.

Haris Dar now serves as the Joint Secretary of MML and has been an active member of the party.

MML is a political branch of JUD and LeT’s founder and mastermind of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, Hafiz Saeed.

“Haris Dar may have been allegedly linked to Lashkar-e-Taiba. But today, he is a political representative of a political party -- Milli Muslim League (MML) -- who had come to congratulate Arshad Nadeem. Milli Muslim League is a registered political party in Pakistan and like all others who are visiting Arshad Nadeem, members of MML have all the right to do the same," said political analyst Adnan Shaukat.