Brig Anil Gupta
It is widely reported in the media that Hafiz Saeed is planning to rename his organisation Jamat ud Dawah (JuD) as Milli Muslim League Pakistan and launch a new political party in Pakistan on forthcoming nation's Independence Day. The news would have passed on as an ordinary one and not drawn much media attention world over but for the fact that Hafiz Saeed is a UN declared international terrorist. He carries a bounty of $ 10 million announced by the United States (US) for his masterminding of 2008 Mumbai terror attacks in which 164 civilians were killed including 6 American citizens. Hafiz Muhammad Saeed is a co-founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LET) and the chief or Amir of JuD, which operates mainly from Pakistan and has had sanctions placed against it as a terrorist organisation by the United Nations. He is an internationally designated terrorist. Hafiz Saeed is also listed on the NIA ‘Most Wanted list' and LET is a banned terrorist organisation in India. The US, the United Kingdom, the European Union, Russia and Australia have also banned LET. When LET was banned in Pakistan, the political arm of the group, JuD, was not initially banned despite its recognition by the UN Security Council as a LET front. JuD was also banned subsequently. However, JuD still continues to work openly as LET's charitable wing in Pakistan.
Hafiz Saeed enjoys the patronage of the Pakistani Deep State, ISI in particular. He is treated by the ISI as a “strategic asset” and despite being under custody in Pakistan since January 31, he continues to enjoy all privileges and also holds regular meetings with his colleagues and followers as well as continues to plan and direct terrorist attacks in India. He is rabidly anti-India and regularly spews venom against India and US in his hysterical speeches across the length and breadth of Pakistan. He is quoted as saying, “There cannot be any peace while India remains intact. Cut them, cut them so much that they kneel before you and ask for mercy.” Imagine such a man becoming the Prime Minister of Pakistan!
Though it is an internal matter of Pakistan, India can ill afford to turn a blind eye to the machinations of ISI. India therefore chose to remind Pakistan that it was under international obligation to curb the activities and ensure that he was not allowed to operate freely. MEA spokesperson Gopal Bagley said, “A man who is known to trade in bullets was now seeking to hide behind the ballot. Person whose hands are stained with blood of innocent lives is using ballot ink to hide them. This is a matter of concern.” He further stated, “Saeed was an internationally designated terrorist under the UN 1267 provisions. It is Pakistan's obligation, obviously, to make sure that such individuals and organisations are not able to enjoy the freedom to conduct terrorist activities. Pakistan must also ensure that international sanctions on these individuals and organisations are enforced 100%.”
Is Pakistan shying away from its international obligations? The answer obviously is yes. But it appears the ISI is interested in propping him up as a proxy PM so that the Army continues to enjoy the supremacy in Pakistan's unique governance model without attached accountabilities and fulfil its single point agenda of “hate-India.” There is a convergence of thought-process as both Saeed and ISI consider India as an existential threat. Saeed's anti-India mind-set is a universal fact and has been highlighted in the preceding paragraphs. ISI will be too happy and willing to have a person like him saddled in Islamabad. It is taking shelter behind the cloak of democracy under the pretext that contesting elections is a fundamental right of any citizen. Interestingly, he is under house arrest but has not been convicted by any court in Pakistan that may debar him from contesting elections. The parliamentary elections are due in Pakistan next summer.
Hafiz Saeed continues to remain a popular public figure and philanthropist in Pakistan. He enjoys public support and has acquired enough wealth to contest the elections. There have been public rallies expressing solidarity with him. .Popular Pakistani actor and self-proclaimed political commentator Hamza Abbasi has also come out in support of Saeed on social media, with thousands liking his post about Saeed's ‘high character'. There are also media reports of Hindus from Tharparkar, Sindh, having supported Saeed. They say, “While Saeed may be a terrorist for Americans and Indians, he is a philanthropist for us, the Hindu community. Saeed and his men have led relief efforts in the poverty-stricken district of Thar, where a significant Hindu population resides.”
Anam Zakaria, a popular Pakistani author has this to say, “How significant or deeply felt these expressions of solidarity are remains to be seen. What is clear, however, is that Saeed's party has been effective in usurping the vacuum left by the state, meeting citizens' needs where the government has been both unable and unwilling to do so. While the Pakistani state seems to be trying to rectify its mistakes and curb such actors in order to improve its international status, it does not help that the frustrated and deprived citizens of Pakistan have started to find relief in the very elements responsible for creating havoc and instability in the country in the first place. Countering the influence of Saeed will require not just state action against all manifestations of militancy, including those who target India, but also the augmenting of the Pakistani state's capacity to provide proper services to citizens.” Fed up with the failure of the current regime, the people of Pakistan may come forward to forget the bullets and reward Hafiz Saeed's philanthropy through the medium of ballot.
The implications for India are obvious. Though as of date it is only in the realm of scenario building. If at all Saeed or his protégé manages to capture the high chair in Islamabad, any chances of improving relations with Pakistan would be dumped to dustbin. Hafiz Saeed is also an advocate of Punjabi being made the national language replacing Urdu. Implosion of Pakistan will be a foregone conclusion since Saeed believes in Punjabi supremacy and the Pakhtuns and Balooch will never accept it. ISI, of course, will have the last laugh. It is a worst case scenario for both India and US.
