India furious at Pakistan's move to let JuD chief Hafiz Saeed off the hook
New Delhi: India on Monday reacted furiously to the Pakistan government’s withdrawal of request before the Pakistani courts for extending the detention of UN-designated terrorist, Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD) chief and Mumbai terror attacks mastermind Hafiz Saeed under the anti-terrorism law, with top sources in New Delhi saying that “such duplicitous actions need condemnation from all quarters” and adding that it reflects Pakistan’s lack of will to act against terrorism.
Sources told this newspaper, “It only reflects the lack of will on the part of Pakistan to fulfill its international obligations to take effective actions against internationally proscribed terrorists. It is surprising that instead of prosecuting him for heading and directing a terrorist organisation, Pakistan is simply putting him in house arrest for maintenance of public law and order... Such duplicitous actions need condemnation from all quarters.”
Islamabad’s move is being seen by foreign policy-watchers as a blatant attempt to provoke India by virtually refusing to take adequate action against Saeed.
The horrific 26/11 attacks on Mumbai in 2008 by Pakistani terrorists and the need to bring to book those who planned the attack from Pakistan has been consistently taken up by New Delhi with Islamabad but to no avail. This is also being seen as a message from Pakistan to India in the context of the rock-bottom ties between the two nations and the Pakistan Army’s strategy of continuing to push terrorists into J&K from across the LoC. Saeed is viewed as a strategic asset by the Pakistan Army and the civilian government there seems reluctant to take action against him.
According to news reports from Pakistan last Saturday, the Pakistan government had withdrawn its request for extending the detention of Saeed under the anti-terrorism law.
On January 31 this year, Saeed and his four aides had been detained by the Pakistani Punjab government under the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997. They have been under house arrest since then.
According to reports from Pakistan, an official of the home department of the Pakistani Punjab government told the Supreme Court that the government did not require the extension of Saeed and his four accomplices’ detention any more.
