:: Editorial

How real is Pak action on Hafiz?

Sep 20 : The booking of Hafiz Saeed, Pakistan’s ideologue of India-specific terrorism and founder of Jamaat-ud-Dawah and Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, under that country’s anti-terrorism legislation should not lull us into believing that Islamabad is shifting gears on getting tough on those who launch terrorist assaults against India. If that were unequivocally shown to be the case, the India-Pakistan dynamics would look up dramatically. But we are far from being there, going by the totality of circumstances. First things first. The filing of charges on two counts against Hafiz Saeed is in no way related to the assault on Mumbai last November. Thus, in a basic sense, the action has little to do with India, although creating hatred against this country and instigating terrorist attacks against it are the raison d’être of the outfits that Hafiz Saeed heads. The official move against the ideological fountainhead of Pakistan’s anti-India terrorism cabal has come in the wake of his calls for "jihad" against unbelievers and seeking of financial donations in the cause of that "holy war". Some rightly see in the move the playing out of diplomatic tactics days before the Indian external affairs minister and the foreign secretary are to meet their Pakistani counterparts on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session in New York. Given the soup in which Islamabad finds itself in dealing with its international interlocutors, it is in its interest to at least create the illusion that it is being reasonable in dealing with India. It is to that end that registering cases against Hafiz Saeed is intended, though the charges are in no way related to giving India satisfaction in the Mumbai matter.

If the Pakistan authorities pursue these cases with sincerity and are able to put away Hafiz Saeed, the LeT is likely to be demoralised, at least for a time. That would be cause for raising half a cheer in this country. So, it will be interesting to see how these cases move, given the constant inter-cutting of the spheres of law, politics and the shady realm of the intelligence network, which has a pride of politics in Pakistan. During his recent working visit to the US, Union home minister P. Chidambaram appears to have made a convincing case against the activities of Hafiz Saeed — named by the UN as an international terrorist — that are prejudicial to India’s interest. In New Delhi on Friday, the US ambassador spoke out in favour of "swift and lengthy punishment" for the six LeT suspects in the Mumbai case. Earlier he had said that going after Hafiz Saeed and dismantling the terror infrastructure that he commands were important for New Delhi and Washington. This is self-evident, of course, but it is useful to reiterate it. If Pakistan continues to disregard India’s concerns on terrorism, it is hard to see how America’s Af-Pak policy can be meaningfully prosecuted. For this reason, the US must continue to persuade Pakistan to change tracks. But it has been seen all too often in the past that Washington says the right things as far as Pakistan goes, but doesn’t follow this up with the right actions.