New Delhi: The 26/11 Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed was seen doing relief work in flood-hit areas in Pakistan. Upon being confronted by Indian media, the Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit unconcernedly remarked, “Hafiz Saeed is a Pakistani national so he is free to roam around. What is the problem? He is a free citizen so there is no issue as far as Pakistan is concerned.
“Courts have already exonerated him. There is no case pending against him,” the High Commissioner further added.
While the sensationalist parts of the Indian media are falling over each other over the remark, there is nothing extraordinary in the High Commissioner’s attitude. Everything is exactly as it is supposed to be. If Hafiz Saeed is actually a free man in Pakistan, he is free to roam around. He is free to plot one attack after another on India, he can deliver a litany of hate speeches against India and its people, he can exhort extremist Islamists to launch multiple jihads against our infidel country and in between, he can also provide relief to the flood-stricken, unfortunate people of the country that shelters terrorists like him. After all he is a free man. But why is he a free man if India accuses him of masterminding the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack? This is something doesn’t spend much time on.
Instead of hyperventilating over Pakistan cocking a snook at India’s concerns, the Indian media should try to find out how the Indian Government, or to be precise, the UPA Government, followed up after the dastardly Mumbai attack. Except for handling one dossier after another, the Indian Government did practically nothing to deliver a strong message to the Pakistani establishment that harbours not just terrorists like Hafiz Saeed but also, till he was alive, luminaries like Osama bin Laden.
Manmohan Singh’s complete capitulation at Sharm-el-Sheikh is stuff of legend (maybe he got confused between “sharm” and “be-sharm”?). In the joint statement with the then Pakistani PM Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani he totally delinked the Pakistani acts of terrorism from the peace talks. It was like telling Pakistan that no matter what you want to do, we will keep on having friendly chats over tea and kebabs. We will keep on having friendly matches as if nothing has happened. While our captured soldiers are being tortured and butchered, while our citizens are being blown to pieces, we can keep on hugging each other’s musicians and organising peace concerts.
There was little outrage in the Indian media back then. There was no jingoistic sabre rattling.
The BJP, which is now in power at the Centre and is perceived to have a more muscular approach towards terrorism, recently sent a strong message to Pakistan when it cancelled Secretary-level talks with the country’s Government after cross-border firing continued. But the new Government has a sorry record to defend and work with. External Affairs Ministry’s spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin said:
“Our views on Hafiz Saeed are very clear. To us, he is the evil mastermind of the attacks on Mumbai and one of the accused in an Indian court for killings on streets of Mumbai. We have repeatedly asked Pakistan that he should be apprehended and taken through normal judicial process. Alas! He has never been arrested on account of 26/11. Therefore…. he is only free because he is a Pakistani citizen.”
Pakistan has been given an impression that it can get away with anything as long as India is concerned. Compared to this, Osama bin Laden had to spend his last days hidden like a rat because he had messed with America. Had he messed with India like Hafiz Saeed messed with India, he would have still been alive, living peacefully with one of his child wives. He would have been reverentially referred to as “Osama saheb”, just like Digvijay Singh called “Saeed saheb”.
Unfortunately, Pakistan’s chalta hai attitude towards Hafiz Saeed is anything but shocking. It shouldn’t be, but it is.
