Hafiz Saeed, the Jamaat ud Dawa (JuD) emir, has come up with all solutions to our foreign and domestic problems. One of his policy prescriptions is to wage war against India for the emancipation of the Kashmiri people. Some time ago Bilawal Bhutto gave some mild statements about Kashmir, and the Indian media lost its dinner. Hearing this from Saeed is going to really tick them off. The Indian government sees the JuD as the mastermind behind the 2008 Mumbai attack and our government has been accused of giving legitimacy to this terrorist outfit.
The JuD is a banned terror group in the UN Security Council and the US government has raised a $10 million bounty for evidence that leads to his conviction. Pakistan maintains that there are no pending charges and has refused to enforce the UN and US-directed sanctions. Last month, the High Court in Punjab directed the government to reply to Saeed’s appeal that the government should raise the matter with the US government to have the $10 million bounty on him cancelled as well.
When a leader incited jihad for freedom from “Indian yoke”, it only strengthens allegations of terrorism against him. Saeed went a step further, saying, “Ghazwa-e-Hind is inevitable, Kashmir will be freed, 1971 will be avenged and Ahmedabad Gujarat victims will get justice Inshallah.” Such bravado does no good for the cause of Kashmir and only serves to mire it in more controversy. It gives India more fodder to call us terrorists. A headline in the Indian daily, The Hindu, reads, “Pakistan mainstreaming Terrorism”. But the JuD need not be taken lightly; they, after all, are children of Lashkar e Taiba. If India cannot protect its Muslim minorities and unapologetic politicians like Modi are in change, there will always be anti-Modis like Hafiz Saeed. With India’s recent cold shoulder and hot borders, and organization like JuD advocating jihad is hardly unexpected. But while the Indian mouthpiece is coming out with statements that it will protect the Kashmiris against terrorists, the Pakistani microphone is shouting for war. This how the foreign media is looking at the situation and foreign and Indian policy will be formulated according to this, not according to real Pakistani and Kashmiri intentions. People like Hafiz Saeed need to stop open talk of war, and stop opening new fronts.