Pakistan takes baby steps. More has to be done
It is tempting to whole-heartedly welcome the Pakistan Government's recent actions against terrorist Hafiz Saeed. But one has to hold oneself back because Islamabad has flattered to deceive on more than one occasion in the past. The lashkar-e-Tayyeba (leT) chief was placed under house arrest days ago and has now been listed under the Fourth Schedule of that country's anti-terror Act. Additionally, Pakistan's Defence Minister Khawaja Asif is reported to have remarked that Saeed “could pose a serious threat to society”. Taken together, the two can mean that Pakistan is finally taking baby steps to crack down on the person wanted in India for the 26/11 carnage. If indeed Islamabad is serious about bringing him to book, it should follow these measures up with concrete action. From the Indian perspective, it means expediting the case against Saeed for the 2008 Mumbai attacks. This has not been happening. Pakistan has been given loads of evidence against the man and his organisation, but it has chosen to sleep over it. Worse, on occasions it has trashed the material. This inaction on the Government's part and the reluctance of the Pakistani courts to push for justice, has led to the case lingering for seven years now. Meanwhile, to be on the safer side, Saeed has been changing the nomenclature of his outfit and pretty much doing what he is best at — threatening India with destruction and fomenting unrest in Kashmir valley — without hindrance from the Government there. Islamabad's responses have fitted a pattern: Every time there is international pressure, it takes token steps to demonstrate its ‘commitment’ to tackling terror. But the world is no longer fooled. This time around too, with new US President Donald Trump promising action against nations that support terrorism, Pakistan is trying to present the credentials of being a country that combats terror with sincerity. But it still continues to differentiate between the ‘good terrorists' and the ‘bad terrorists'. It goes after groups that have been targeting Pakistan but turns a blind eye to the ones which hit India. If the Government there is indeed sincere about treating terrorists equally, it must now take the small actions it has initiated against Saeed to their logical conclusion. Its listing of the leT chief under the anti-terror law is an acknowledgement of his terror connection. Nothing should then prevent the Government from pursuing on those lines. The question is: Will the Pakistan Army play ballIJ There is talk that the new Army chief, General Qamar Javed Bajwa, wants to minimise the Army's role in an elected Government's decision-making on foreign policies. Besides, he may not be considerate to the militant elements, whether anti-India or anti-Pakistan. We have to wait and see.
Meanwhile, there is talk that Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has found his spine. The evidence being provided is that he has managed to instal his choice, Tehmina Janjua, as the new Foreign Secretary. The name of Pakistan's Indian envoy Abdul Basit had been doing the rounds for the post, and Basit was seen as both a hardliner and an Army favourite. But Sharif's spine is known to collapse almost as soon as it appears. For the India-Pakistan dialogue to resume, Islamabad has to show deeper commitment to fight the likes of Saeed.
