Islamabad: While Pakistan media had earlier speculated that the warning issued by the US-led to the house arrest of Jamaat-ud Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed, an article has said that China is more likely to be the reason behind the move.
The article said that Trump has been in office for less than two weeks and beyond his rapid-fire issuance of executive orders, his presidency appears frenzied and disorganised. The numerous unfilled senior diplomatic and national security posts also add to his woes. With this, the Trump administration has too much on its plate to be focusing laser-like on Pakistan.
The article said that in a telling yet underreported development several weeks ago, China's former consul general in Kolkata published a blog post calling on Beijing to rethink its default policy of blocking Indian attempts to have Jaish-e-Mohammed leader Masood Azhar sanctioned by the United Nations.
It makes good sense when one thinks about the high stakes of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). For Beijing (as for Islamabad), rapid and sustained progress on this project is a core strategic imperative, the article said.
It added that even though Saeed doesn't pose a direct threat to China, as so long as he walked free, he posed a direct threat to India-Pakistan relations.
The last thing China wants is an India-Pakistan relationship on tenterhooks as it pushes forward with CPEC.
China has for long pressed Pakistan to tackle terror more robustly - and it's arguably gotten results. Some have speculated that Beijing’s prodding played a role in Pakistan's decision to launch the Zarb-e-Azb operation to fight militancy.
The anti-state militants targeted had not only terrorised Pakistan but they had also posed a threat to Chinese investments and workers in Pakistan.
‘In short, we should never underestimate China's leverage in Pakistan including its ability to get Pakistan to do things it often resists,’ said the article while questioning as to why Pakistan did not act weeks or months ago if the decision was influenced by China.
It added that this house arrest, at least in part, can also be read as an effort by Pakistan to showcase its counter-terrorism efforts to the new US administration and to dissuade Trump from adding Pakistan to the list of countries that can't send their citizens to the United States for 90 days.
The article further says that China has the ability to get Pakistan to go beyond token gestures when it comes to addressing anti-India militancy and unless Pakistan chooses to do some big-time signalling to Washington by keeping Saeed in detention for an extended period.
