JuD chief’s detention: Pakistan snubs India over frigid response

Islamabad ‘does not need New Delhi’s endorsement for its actions’, says interior ministry spokesperson

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has snubbed India for its cynical reaction over the detention of the Jamaatud Dawa chief, saying that it does not need New Delhi’s endorsement for its actions. The angry rebuff from the interior ministry coincided with a travel ban on Hafiz Muhammad Saeed and his 37 associates.

“Pakistan does not need any certification or endorsement from India over the recent actions it has taken in relation [to Hafiz Saeed],” a spokesperson for the interior ministry said in a statement on Wednesday in response to a statement by India’s external affairs ministry.

Hafiz Saeed and four other JuD leaders - Abdullah Ubaid, Zafar Iqbal, Abdur Rehman Abid and Qazi Kashif Niaz -- were put under house arrest on Monday.

India responded cynically to the move. “Only a credible crackdown on the mastermind of the Mumbai terrorist attack and terrorist organisations involved in cross-border terrorism would be proof of Pakistan’s sincerity,” it said in a statement on Tuesday.

The interior ministry spokesman said the actions taken by Pakistan have been carried out as per the obligations vis-a-vis listing of the JuD under UN Security Council Resolution 1267 in December 2008.

He said various actions that needed to be taken under the relevant resolution, i.e. arms embargo, travel curbs and freezing of assets were not carried out for some reason by the previous governments.

“India has constantly been using Saeed’s political activities as a tool to malign Pakistan. The international community should take note and understand that Pakistan is a democratic society where the judiciary takes free, independent and transparent decisions,” he said.

He asked India to come up with ‘concrete evidence’ against the JuD chief if it was serious about its allegations against him.

“If indeed India is serious about its allegations, it should come up with concrete evidence against Hafiz Saeed which is sustainable in the court of law in Pakistan or for that matter anywhere in the world,” he said. Casting aspersions and levelling allegations without corroborating evidence will not help the cause of peace in the region, he added.

The spokesperson said: “Pakistan is still looking for justification and explanation from India as to how all the accused involved in the Samjhota Express bombing in which 68 Pakistani nationals had lost their lives have gone scot-free.”

“The involvement of Indian army’s Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Shrikant Purohit and Hindu extremist leaders like Swami Aseemanand of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh in the Samjhota Express terrorist incident is a matter of record and has been widely reported in the international press without any positive response from India.”

In a related development, the interior ministry placed Hafiz Saeed and his 37 associates on the Exit Control List. The ministry has forwarded a letter to the Federal Investigation Agency, a wing of which deals with immigration, as well as provincial authorities for action against them, as required under the UN resolution.

The ministry also placed the Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation (FIF), a charity organisation of the JuD, on the watch list. The JuD has already been on the watch list since 2010.

The action against the JuD chief has not gone down well with Kashmiri militants. The United Jihad Council (UJC) chairman said Hafiz Saeed’s arrest was painful for the people of Kashmir across the Line of Control (LoC).

“Hafiz Saeed has been raising the voice for the people of occupied Kashmir who have been suppressed by the Indian military establishment for more than six decades,” said Syed Salahuddin, who is also the supreme commander of Hizbul Mujahideen.

In a statement, he appealed to the federal government to immediately release Hafiz Saeed “in the larger interest of the Kashmir cause”.

“The arrest also showed that how weak Pakistan is on the Kashmir dispute. It is time for Pakistan to expose India and stand with the Kashmiri people; for the support of their noble cause instead of arresting Saeed,” Salahuddin added.

Separately, a demonstration was staged by the civil society and Muzaffarabad citizens against US President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for pressurising Pakistan into arresting Hafiz Saeed.

The demonstrators put the effigies of Modi, Trump and flags of both the countries on fire to vent their anger. They shouted pro Hafiz Seed and anti-India slogans.

In Haripur, JuD workers and other religious parties continued their protest against Hafiz Saeed’s detention on Wednesday. The leadership of JuD, JI, JUI-S, JUI-F (Nazriyati Group), Tahaffuz Khatm-e-Nabuwat and local traders took out a protest rally on the call of the Muttahida Ulema Council, Haripur chapter. [With input from M A Mir in Muzaffarabad and Muhammad Sadaqat in Haripur]

Published in The Express Tribune, February 2^nd, 2017.