Muster will and arrest Saeed, India tells Pak

India Tuesday demanded Pakistan conduct a “credible crackdown” on militant groups after one of the alleged masterminds of the 2008 Mumbai attacks was detained at a mosque in Lahore.

Saeed has said he intends to challenge his detention. Four other men – Abdullah Ubaid, Zafar Iqbal, Abdur Rehman Abid and Qazi Kashif Niaz – have also been placed under house arrest in other towns around Punjab.

China – a close defense and economic ally of Pakistan – has time and again vetoed moves led by India in the United Nations to declare Saeed and Jaish-e-Mohammad Chief Maulana Masood Azhar as “terrorists”.

The JuD leaders also warned the government of launch of a protest movement if Saeed was not released immediately.

Responding to the Indian External Affairs spokesperson’s statement, Foreign Office Spokesperson Nafees Zakaria said India should look towards itself before it points fingers towards others. If the obviously limited step against Saeed has been taken under USA pressure or due to fear, India has very little to rejoice.

Nafees Zakariya said that Pakistan looked forward to strengthening ties with the United States and with regard to the USA visa policy, he said that states were sovereign in making such decisions but said that when making such decisions, humanitarian as well as political dimensions should not be ignored.

The move came after years of pressure on Pakistan from neighbour India, the United States and the UN to put the Jamaat-ud-Dawah leader on trial. We all likely know by now how this whole thing is going to unfold, don’t we?

Saeed was put under house arrest immediately after the attacks but was released within six months for lack of evidence. This is not the first time for Saeed who had been arrested twice in the last 10 years but let off subsequently. “We have also consistently called for bringing known terrorists under the ambit of the 1267 sanctions”, Swarup added.

India, including the Mumbai terror strike of November 26,2008, which was masterminded by Saeed.

He denies involvement in the Mumbai attack. The entire conspiracy in the Mumbai terror attack case was hatched in Pakistan.

The outlawed group, Lashkar-e-Tayyiba – which means “army of the pure” – was widely thought to be responsible for the attacks. But Pakistan and its ISI could not afford to act against its benamdar which Hafiz Saeed is.

Saeed, who heads a famous “charity organization” named Jamatud Dawah, was until recently free to move anywhere around the country and was also openly participating in rallies.