Paris Olympics 2024 gold medallist Arshad Nadeem stirred controversy a few days after creating history in the French Capital. Nadeem, Pakistan’s track and field athlete, who clinched a gold medal in the javelin throw has been linked to a member of the terrorist organisation Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). The controversy erupted after visuals of the athlete meeting Muhammad Harris Dar surfaced on social media.
In videos and pictures shared by an Open-Source Intelligent (OSINT) handle on X, Nadeem could be seen meeting Dar. Notably, Dar is the Joint Secretary of the Milli Muslim League (MML), which is a political party known to be a front for LeT. The video showed Dar congratulating Nadeem on his Olympic win, and saying that his achievement brought pride to the entire Muslim community.
Needless to say, the meeting between LeT terrorist and Nadeem sparked heated discussion about the influence of Islamic terrorist group on the lives of regular citizens and even successful athletes. For the unversed, LeT is infamous for its involvement in several attacks including the 2008 Mumbai attacks which claimed the lives of 166 people. Hafiz Saeed, the founder of MML, was the mastermind behind these attacks.
Since shared, the video has prompted calls for investigation into the nature of the relationship that Nadeem shares with Dar. Talking about his Paris Olympics 2024 gold, the Pakistani athlete broke the Olympic Record with his monstrous throw of 92.97m and won his nation’s first Olympic medal in 32 years while becoming country’s first ever athletics Olympic champion.