NEW DELHI: In an aggressive escalation of extremist rhetoric, designated terrorist and one of the Pahalgam attack masterminds Saifullah Kasuri said the Pakistan army would defend Saudi holy sites and 'erase Israel from the world map'.

Delivering an incendiary address at the Khatam-e-Nabuwat Conference last week, Kasuri sought to incite public sentiment by projecting the Pakistani military as an active player in regional conflicts.The remarks come against the backdrop of several high-level meetings between the top members of

Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Muhammed and senior Hamas operatives in Pakistan over the past year. Last year, a Hamas team visited JeM's headquarters in Bahawalpur besides a Pak army facility.Senior Hamas functionaries gave a speech in Rawalkote, PoK, on "Kashmir Solidarity Day" last Feb. The gathering was organised under the banner of Al Aqsa Floods, a reference to the mosque in Jerusalem, claimed by both Jews and Muslims.Kasuri, the LeT deputy chief, has been actively participating in public gatherings post-Pahalgam to raise funds and recruit youth. The visuals uploaded by pro-Lashkar accounts on Telegram show him under the protection of armed guards and uniformed men at all these gatherings. In March, Kasuri said that Pakistan would never accept the Abraham Accords and at a rally in Lahore at the end of May said he had become more famous since the attack in Kashmir last year.