Latest news with #MalikAhmedKhan
Hindustan Times
19 hours ago
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
Pak's Punjab Speaker backs Saifullah Kasuri, a key Lashkar terrorist involved in Pahalgam attack
Malik Ahmed Khan, the Speaker of Pakistan's Punjab Assembly, has come under scrutiny after publicly defending Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) deputy chief Saifullah Kasuri — a key terrorist allegedly involved in the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir that killed 26 people. In a video circulating on social media, Malik Ahmed Khan defended Kasuri during a rally, dismissing allegations against him by insisting he should not be treated as an accused "without an investigation." Earlier, on May 28, Khan was seen seated in the front row at a public programme in Kasur, Punjab, alongside Saifullah Khalid — considered a mastermind of the Pahalgam attack — and Talha Saeed, son of UN-sanctioned terrorist Hafiz Saeed and de facto head of LeT. Both Khalid and Talha are listed as global terrorists, with Khalid being officially designated by the US. The rally, organised by the Pakistan Markazi Muslim League (PMML) to mark Youm-e-Takbeer, also featured senior leaders, including food minister Malik Rasheed Ahmad Khan and close associates of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and PML-N leader Maryam Nawaz. The LeT-linked figures, including Saeed, Kasuri, and Amir Hamza, were seen prominently seated and interacting with political leaders. In the video shared on X, Malik Ahmed Khan also mentioned his personal ties to Kasur — the town where the rally took place — further deepening the controversy. The presence of top LeT operatives at the rally attracted attention from foreign policy observers, especially after some of them boasted publicly about having avenged Pakistan's 1971 defeat to India. US-designated terrorists Saifullah Kasuri and Muzammil Hashmi claimed credit for their involvement in a so-called "coup" in Bangladesh while addressing supporters at rallies held last week. "We emerged victorious against you in Bangladesh last year," they declared. Prime Minister Narendra Modi became the target of their vitriol during a rally organised by the Lashkar-e-Taiba's political front, the Pakistan Markazi Muslim League (PMML), in Gujranwala on May 28. Hashmi was heard proclaiming: 'Tum hamein apni goli se darate ho, Modi hum tujhe paigham dete hain, humare bachche teri missailon se nahi dare, hum teri goli se kya darenge.' (You try to scare us with your bullets, Modi, but we send you a message — our children are not afraid of your missiles, why would we fear your bullets?) At another rally in Rahim Yar Khan, Kasuri drew historical parallels with the 1971 Bangladesh war, claiming that his outfit had avenged Pakistan's defeat. "I was four years old when Pakistan was dismembered in 1971. The then Indian PM Indira Gandhi had declared that she had drowned the two-nation theory in the khaleej (Bay of Bengal). On May 10, we took the revenge of 1971," he told supporters. Kasuri also spoke of the Indian airstrikes on Muridke that killed fellow terrorist Mudassar, expressing emotional pain over being prevented from attending his funeral. "I was not allowed to attend his funeral. On the day of his funeral, I cried a lot," he said. Several Pakistani ministers were seen at the same events, where they shared the stage with LeT operatives. They were seen greeting and interacting with them at the rally in Kasur. Kasuri, believed to be the key planner behind the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack, made a surprise appearance at the PMML gathering. The Indian government has linked the attack to LeT's proxy outfit, The Resistance Front (TRF). While addressing the crowd, Kasuri not only raised anti-India slogans but also referred to slain terrorists killed in India's Operation Sindoor as 'martyrs.' "India labelled me the mastermind of the Pahalgam terror attack while I was busy taking part in events and people's happiness took the name 'Kasur', 'Kasuri', so many times that now the entire world knows me as famous," he said at the rally. could not independently verify the authenticity of these videos. Reports suggest Kasuri has been given refuge by Pakistan's intelligence agency, the ISI, in Bahawalpur.
Economic Times
a day ago
- Politics
- Economic Times
Following Lashkar rally boasting 'revenge for 1971', Pakistan speaker's open support for Pahalgam mastermind sparks outrage
Following India's Operation Sindoor, concerns are rising as ties between the Pakistani government and terrorist groups seemingly strengthen. A Punjab Assembly Speaker was seen at a rally with Lashkar-e-Taiba leaders, including a US-designated terrorist involved in the Pahalgam attack. Lashkar leaders are openly celebrating 'revenge' for the 1971 war, blurring the line between state and terror. Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Lashkar leaders boast of 'revenge for 1971' Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads 'We took revenge for Bangladesh' Growing concerns over terror-politics nexus The gap between the Pakistani government and terrorist groups seems to be getting smaller after India's Operation Sindoor. A shocking example of this was seen recently when Malik Ahmed Khan, Speaker of the Punjab Assembly in Pakistan, was spotted attending a rally with Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) deputy chief Saifullah Kasuri and Talha Saeed , son of LeT founder Hafiz per a TOI report, Kasuri, a US-designated terrorist and one of the key planners behind the recent Pahalgam terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir, was treated like a hero. When reporters asked Malik Ahmed Khan about his presence at the rally, he defended Kasuri by saying no one should be considered guilty without proper investigation. He also claimed a personal connection to Kasur, the town where the May 28 rally took presence of Talha Saeed and Kasuri at the rally came just days after videos started circulating of Lashkar terrorists celebrating what they called 'revenge' for Pakistan's defeat in the 1971 war against the videos, Kasuri is seen arriving at the rally with bodyguards carrying American M4 rifles, while flower petals are showered on him. He was even called the 'conqueror' of India by his one rally in Gujranwala on May 28, Muzammil Hashmi and others made hateful comments targeting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. 'Modi, your missiles didn't scare our children. Why would your bullets scare us?' said Hashmi during the rally, which was hosted by the political wing of LeT, Pakistan Markazi Muslim another speech, Kasuri made emotional statements about the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War. 'I was just four when Pakistan was broken apart in 1971. Indira Gandhi had said she drowned the two-nation theory. But on May 10, we took revenge,' he declared at a rally in Rahim Yar also talked about the Indian air strike on Muridke, which killed fellow terrorist Mudassar. He expressed pain at not being allowed to attend the funeral. 'I cried a lot that day,' he events have caused alarm internationally. As per a TOI report, experts believe this is yet another sign that certain Pakistani leaders are openly supporting extremist groups. With Lashkar terrorists making bold claims of violence and revenge, and top state officials sharing the stage with them, the line between state and terror is becoming dangerously from TOI
Time of India
a day ago
- Politics
- Time of India
Following Lashkar rally boasting 'revenge for 1971', Pakistan speaker's open support for Pahalgam mastermind sparks outrage
The gap between the Pakistani government and terrorist groups seems to be getting smaller after India's Operation Sindoor. A shocking example of this was seen recently when Malik Ahmed Khan, Speaker of the Punjab Assembly in Pakistan, was spotted attending a rally with Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) deputy chief Saifullah Kasuri and Talha Saeed , son of LeT founder Hafiz Saeed. As per a TOI report, Kasuri, a US-designated terrorist and one of the key planners behind the recent Pahalgam terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir, was treated like a hero. When reporters asked Malik Ahmed Khan about his presence at the rally, he defended Kasuri by saying no one should be considered guilty without proper investigation. He also claimed a personal connection to Kasur, the town where the May 28 rally took place. Lashkar leaders boast of 'revenge for 1971' The presence of Talha Saeed and Kasuri at the rally came just days after videos started circulating of Lashkar terrorists celebrating what they called 'revenge' for Pakistan's defeat in the 1971 war against India. In the videos, Kasuri is seen arriving at the rally with bodyguards carrying American M4 rifles, while flower petals are showered on him. He was even called the 'conqueror' of India by his supporters. At one rally in Gujranwala on May 28, Muzammil Hashmi and others made hateful comments targeting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. 'Modi, your missiles didn't scare our children. Why would your bullets scare us?' said Hashmi during the rally, which was hosted by the political wing of LeT, Pakistan Markazi Muslim League. Live Events 'We took revenge for Bangladesh' In another speech, Kasuri made emotional statements about the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War. 'I was just four when Pakistan was broken apart in 1971. Indira Gandhi had said she drowned the two-nation theory. But on May 10, we took revenge,' he declared at a rally in Rahim Yar Khan. Kasuri also talked about the Indian air strike on Muridke, which killed fellow terrorist Mudassar. He expressed pain at not being allowed to attend the funeral. 'I cried a lot that day,' he said. Growing concerns over terror-politics nexus These events have caused alarm internationally. As per a TOI report, experts believe this is yet another sign that certain Pakistani leaders are openly supporting extremist groups. With Lashkar terrorists making bold claims of violence and revenge, and top state officials sharing the stage with them, the line between state and terror is becoming dangerously unclear. Inputs from TOI
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Palo Alto Networks is 'clearly' taking market share, analyst says
Shares of Palo Alto Networks (PANW) slipped slightly on Tuesday after posting its third quarter results. Morningstar equity analyst Malik Ahmed Khan is a fan of the stock, saying the company is taking market share and "moving beyond its core firewall market into cloud security, security operations." Hear more of Khan's take on the company and other cybersecurity names he likes in the video above. To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Market Domination Overtime here. Shares of Palo Alto Networks sliding here, despite topping earnings estimates for the third quarter. Morningstar equity analyst Malik Ahmed Khan joins us now to discuss. So, um, we're seeing the shares go down. As far as we could tell, at first blush, all of the numbers seem to beat estimates. They were raising some ranges for earnings going forward. Um, what stands out to you here? Yeah, uh, we also thought it was a, it was, it was a pretty solid quarter. Um, we were really happy to see NGS ARR continue to grow. RPO, which is forward-looking indicator, continued to, uh, grow faster than the top line, and, uh, continuing to see a lot of strength, uh, in the NGS, uh, business, whether it's cortex or sassy or, uh, uh, or other initiatives that the company's taking in AI. Uh, we thought it was a good print. Uh, again, we'll have to unpack some of the numbers and see, uh, what's going on, but at first blush, as you said, we think it was another solid quarter by Palo Alto. Malik, if you had the chance to ask Nikesh Arora a question or two, what would be top of mind for you? First of all, I, I, I think, I think a lot of investors are really interested in what the AI opportunity is within cyber security in, in particular, when we're thinking about security operations. And the company has talked a lot about XSIAM, uh, which is their AI-driven security operations platform to see what the long-term market opportunity is, and what the long-term profitability opportunity is when we're thinking about this NGS business, I think would be sort of, uh, one of the questions I'd ask. Um, what's your views more broadly, sort of, of the competition between Palo Alto and some of its competitors and how successful has Palo Alto been in, in taking market share? So Palo Alto has been one of the top cyber security companies for a number of years now, and we've actually commended the company for, uh, catalyzing vendor consolidation with this platformization strategy that the firm announced in February 2024. Uh, so clearly it's been taking market share, moving beyond its core firewall market into cloud security, security operations, the convergence of networking and security. Uh, and I think investors have, have rewarded the company if you look at the stock chart over the last five or two years. Malik, you know the analysts at Wedbush who cover this name, they are fans. Uh, I know they tell their clients, one of their favorite cyber security names to own over the next 12 to 18 months. Do you agree with that, Malik? Would you recommend this one? For sure. Uh, we, we tend to have a longer, uh, sort of, uh, investment horizon. But as, as we think about the next 5 to 10 years, we certainly like, uh, Palo Alto as one of the highest quality cyber security names. Some of the other ones that I'd throw out, uh, for, for people listening are, are CrowdStrike, uh, Fortinet and ZScaler. We think these four companies combined, uh, are the platform vendors that stand to benefit from vendor consolidation within cyber security. Um, and when you look at the, the outlook for this industry as a whole, given some of the macroeconomic headwinds that we have talked a lot about, whether it be tariffs, whether it be consumer sentiment, how much of that is feeding through to enterprise spending if, if any at this point? So there, there, there's a lot of ways you can sort of look at this question, right? The first one you can do is, you can look at surveys of CIOs and CFOs to think about spending priorities in the upcoming years, and you'll see AI and cyber security as number one and number two in, in, in, in many of those surveys. So that's another thing to keep in mind is that cyber security spending is relatively insulated. It's probably one of the last things that gets on the chopping block for a company to look, uh, that's looking to reduce enterprise spending. At the same time, I think, uh, customers are looking for, um, if they can get the similar amount of coverage, cyber security coverage for a cheaper price via bundling, which CrowdStrike, Palo Alto, all these companies have been trying to get investor or customers interested in, um, uh, they're definitely going to go for that, especially in, in this, in this tight macro. Malik, you know, final question here, CEO Nikesh Arora, his, his seven-year anniversary, work anniversary coming up here, Malik. He was, he was named CEO on June 1st, 2018. I'm just curious, you know the company very well, how would you grade his time there as CEO? What, what's he done right? I think he's, I think he's done a terrific job. Um, and I'm not just saying this because he may be listening, but uh, uh, he's, he's done, he's done a really good job, really, uh, playing into vendor consolidation and, uh, you know, setting Palo Alto up to be that sort of, not a one-stop shop. So I don't think that's possible in security, but certainly have Palo Alto's fingers in many different cyber security pies. And again, if you look at, you know, the seven-year stock chart of Palo Alto, you'll tell, you, you can see how the stock market has graded Nikesh's performance. Okay, thanks so much. Appreciate it. Thank you.
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Palo Alto Networks is 'clearly' taking market share, analyst says
Shares of Palo Alto Networks (PANW) slipped slightly on Tuesday after posting its third quarter results. Morningstar equity analyst Malik Ahmed Khan is a fan of the stock, saying the company is taking market share and "moving beyond its core firewall market into cloud security, security operations." Hear more of Khan's take on the company and other cybersecurity names he likes in the video above. To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Market Domination Overtime here. Sign in to access your portfolio
