IMF Loans by Day, Jihad Rallies by Night: The Pakistan Model
On May 28, the city of Kasur in Pakistan’s Punjab province witnessed a scene that should have sent shockwaves across the globe. On stage, addressing a crowd under banners of nuclear pride and anti-India slogans, stood not only Pakistani ministers like Malik Rasheed Ahmad Khan and Malik Muhammad Ahmad Khan, but also some of the country’s most infamous terrorist ideologues. Among them was Saifullah Kasuri, the alleged mastermind of the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack that left over two dozen Indians dead. Not only was Kasuri welcomed, he was celebrated. In his own words, “I was blamed for Pahalgam and now the whole world knows my name.” He was not in hiding, not being tried, not even condemned. He was applauded.
The rally marked Pakistan’s Youm-e-Takbeer, a day it observes to commemorate its 1998 nuclear tests. But instead of being a solemn moment of reflection on the responsibilities of a nuclear state, it was turned into a political carnival of hate and jihadist glorification. And the most damning part? This spectacle took place just weeks after Pakistan secured billions in bailout commitments from the International Monetary Fund and other Western lenders. In effect, the same country that pleads for global financial support during the day has no qualms hosting a jihad rally by night. This is not a contradiction. It’s Pakistan’s model. A two-faced doctrine where one hand is stretched out for aid, and the other clutches a Molotov cocktail wrapped in a martyr’s manifesto.
IMF’s Blind Eye: Funding a State That Funds Terror
Over the past two years, the International Monetary Fund has quietly become one of Pakistan’s most consistent financial lifelines. In 2023, the IMF approved a $3 billion Stand-By Arrangement to keep Pakistan afloat after it teetered on the edge of sovereign default. That lifeline was renewed and extended with further support in 2024 and 2025, in coordination with friendly nations like China, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE. The rationale was predictable: prevent financial collapse in a nuclear-armed state and keep regional instability at bay.
But this transactional rescue plan conveniently ignores one detail: Pakistan’s collapse is not just economic—it is ideological. While the IMF insists on fiscal reforms, subsidy cuts, and monetary tightening, it does not demand the most basic moral accountability. Where in the IMF conditionality checklist is the requirement to sever ties with Lashkar-e-Taiba? Where is the clause that says ministers must not share platforms with terror commanders?
At a time when Pakistan is defaulting on energy payments and raising fuel prices under IMF pressure, it still finds the means to host massive public rallies where terrorists are chief guests. Television airtime, loudspeakers, police protection—all afforded to ideologues like Saifullah Kasuri and Talha Saeed, son of 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed. None of this is underground. None of this is secret. And yet, IMF officials continue to sign off on disbursements as if Pakistan is just another mismanaged economy and not a state that has structurally fused militancy with governance.
Terror as Public Policy: The Kasur Rally as Exhibit A
The rally in Kasur was not an isolated incident. It was the clearest manifestation of a policy that Pakistan has perfected over decades—weaponize terrorism, legitimize jihadist leaders, and integrate them seamlessly into national pride events. The presence of Saifullah Kasuri on stage, proudly invoking his role in the Pahalgam massacre, was not condemned by any Pakistani authority. On the contrary, he was given a platform to speak, to gloat, and to inspire. Standing beside him was Talha Saeed, heir to Hafiz Saeed’s Lashkar-e-Taiba empire, which is responsible for some of the most horrific terror attacks on Indian soil, including the 2008 Mumbai carnage.
The audience was not a clandestine gathering of extremists. It included senior Punjab government officials and mainstream media coverage. This was not fringe. This was official. Banners with slogans like “Ghazi Zinda Hai” (The holy warrior lives) were splashed across the venue. The event blurred no lines—it demolished them entirely. Militancy was no longer a tool of the deep state. It was now part of the public spectacle, blessed by the elected state.
It is crucial to understand that Pakistan’s strategy is not to disown terrorists—it is to domesticate them. By bringing men like Kasuri and Talha into the mainstream narrative of national defense and religious pride, Pakistan signals to its populace that jihad is not an aberration but an extension of its ideology. And when the world lets this pass without sanction, it effectively rewards that ideology.
The Moral Bankruptcy Behind the Financial One
Pakistan’s economic collapse is not simply a result of poor policy or unfortunate geopolitics. It is the natural outcome of a state that prioritizes martyrdom over modernity and jihad over jobs. For every rupee it borrows from the IMF, Pakistan spends another preserving the structures that keep its terror factories alive. From the madrasa-industrial complex to the safe houses of proscribed groups, the infrastructure of extremism is not only intact—it is sacrosanct.
While inflation batters the average Pakistani, the ideological engine of the state remains generously oiled. Terror leaders don’t struggle for rent or rations. They are shielded, even elevated. Public education crumbles, healthcare is in crisis, but there’s always room in the budget for rallies that glorify anti-India violence. The military’s sprawling economic empire—from cement to cereals—continues to flourish, while farmers beg for diesel subsidies.
The real bankruptcy here is not fiscal, but moral. A nation that allows a terror suspect like Kasuri to be cheered on by ministers is not suffering from misgovernance—it is suffering from deliberate complicity. The breakdown of the economy is just a symptom. The real disease is the systemic glorification of hate. The real debt is owed not to banks or creditors, but to the idea of decency itself.
The Enablers: Western Hypocrisy and Diplomatic Cowardice
The world knows exactly what Pakistan is doing. And yet, it chooses to look away. Western governments, international institutions, and liberal media outlets—all of whom have built entire careers on lecturing the world about terrorism, human rights, and rule of law—go strangely silent when Pakistan’s crimes are no longer covert, but televised.
Sky News confronted Pakistan’s Information Minister, exposing his lies about the country’s terror infrastructure. Piers Morgan held his ground during a televised debate on Pakistan’s terror nexus. But these were isolated flashes of integrity. Where is CNN? Where is The New York Times? Where are the usual watchdogs of democracy and decency when Pakistani ministers pose with genocidal fanatics?
The same media that will write 3,000-word essays if India blocks internet access during a riot somehow can’t spare a paragraph when a state-backed terrorist mocks a massacre on camera. The same diplomats who issue stern demarches over press freedom in Asia have nothing to say about a nuclear power openly giving political space to jihadists.
Even the IMF, which claims to support “inclusive, sustainable growth,” never asks why its borrower is giving airtime to those who believe in blood-soaked martyrdom. There’s no threat of cutting off funds. No special investigation into the misuse of aid. Just quiet disbursals and photo-ops, as if the rallies never happened and the slogans of death were figments of Indian imagination.
Time to End the Farce: Sanction the Sponsors
It is long past time to stop pretending that Pakistan is an unstable democracy struggling against the tide of extremism. That fiction has been peddled for decades, and it has only empowered the very forces it claims to oppose. The events in Kasur are not anomalies. They are policy. They are performance. And they are proudly orchestrated by those who hold public office.
The global response must shift from accommodation to accountability. Pakistan must face immediate consequences for platforming known terrorists. This is not about diplomacy anymore; this is about international security. First, the IMF and World Bank must freeze all future aid until concrete, verifiable actions are taken against terror-linked individuals and organizations operating with state blessing. No more cash infusions while mass murderers get standing ovations.
Second, FATF must reconsider its soft stance and re-list Pakistan on the greylist for allowing financial and ideological space to designated terror entities. There must be travel bans and asset freezes on individuals like Talha Saeed and Saifullah Kasuri, along with any officials who shared the stage with them. Diplomatic immunity should not extend to moral filth.
Third, India must take the lead. Not just in bilateral condemnation but by launching an aggressive global campaign at the United Nations, G20, BRICS, and every other forum. Every Indian embassy must be equipped with dossiers, visuals, and proof—presented not behind closed doors, but at press conferences and in public panels. The time for subtle reminders is over. It’s time to shame the shameless.
When a Nation Defaults on Decency
Pakistan hasn’t just defaulted on loans—it has defaulted on every moral obligation a sovereign state owes to humanity. It has defaulted on truth, on accountability, on remorse. When elected officials share a platform with terrorists who brag about mass murder, it ceases to be a state battling extremism and becomes one endorsing it. No amount of debt restructuring can salvage a nation that chooses hatred as its national identity and terror as its political currency.
This is not a call for war, but a demand for truth. A country that expects the world to fund its survival must not be allowed to fund jihad with the same breath. The IMF and the West are not just enabling economic survival—they are underwriting ideological decay. Each dollar they lend buys a little more hate, a little more silence, a little more blood.
As long as terrorists are cheered on public stages while the world’s institutions keep signing cheques, we must ask: are we really fighting terrorism? Or are we financing it in Pakistan’s name?
