India has called Pakistan’s January 30 house arrest of Jamat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed, ideological progenitor of anti-India terrorist outfit Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, an act of “tokenism”. But what Islamabad is really guilty of is “deception”. The temporary restraint on the JuD chief has come in the wake of threats by the new US administration that Pakistan may soon be put into the list of countries whose nationals won’t be able to enter the United States for three months — the time in which vetting procedures will be strengthened — due to their strong Islamist terror credentials.
If Washington is serious that it’s not moving against Muslims as such but only against countries and entities that promote extremism and terrorism, it should ask Islamabad what steps it is taking not only against the JuD but also the LeT and a host of other deadly outfits that are nurtured by the ISI.
For tactical reasons, those like Saeed and Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar have been taken into custody before to head off stringent action by international bodies. But no criminal case was brought against them. Indeed, the standard Pakistani response — trotted out in Azhar’s case — was that he wasn’t wanted for any crime in Pakistan. The same is likely in the case of Saeed, who masterminded the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
Islamabad must credibly demonstrate it is doing what it can to dismantle and defang organisations like JuD, LeT and JeM. It’s time the Americans sought accountability from an ally which it has paid handsomely to combat terrorism.
