Symbolism and release of Hafiz Saeed: Will 26/11 victims get justice?

Photo Hafiz Muhammad Saeed greeted supporters Wednesday after he was released from house arrest by a court in Lahore Pakistan. Credit Rahat Dar/European Pressphoto Agency ISLAMABAD Pakistan A Pakistani court has ordered the full release of Hafiz Muhammad Saeed the founder of the Islamist militant group that carried out the deadly 2008 Mumbai attacks 10 months after the government placed him under house arrest his lawyer said.The move will free Mr. Saeed to participate more directly in Pakistan s politics. And at a time when the United States has been pushing Pakistan to do better in curbing militants it presents another example of how the most extremist voices in the country seem to be moving more into the mainstream.Mr. Saeed had long been one of the most-wanted militant leaders in the region but he had been living in the open in Pakistan for years despite a 10 million American bounty on him. India in particular has criticized Pakistan for not bringing him to justice after the militant group he founded Lashkar-e-Taiba killed 166 people in the Mumbai attacks.But to many Pakistanis Mr. Saeed is a hero: the architect of a long militant campaign to fight India in Kashmir and a prominent voice for fundamentalist Islam. Some love how he has mocked efforts by the United States to capture him and he drew large crowds as he continued to lead public gatherings especially in his home city Lahore. Advertisement Continue reading the main story The Pakistani government long ago formally banned Lashkar-e-Taiba which was widely listed as a terrorist group. But Pakistan had made few public advances against Mr. Saeed even after he founded a charity Jamaat-ud-Dawa that is openly considered a front for Lashkar-e-Taiba and that recently began moving into political campaigning. Continue reading the main story By: Express Web Desk | New Delhi | Updated: November 28 2017 6:37 pm Jamaat-ud Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed Top News UC Browser app with updated settings now back on Google Play StoreUber hacking scandal could force loyalists to other ride-hailing servicesGES 2017 Live Updates: Ivanka Trump says technology offers tremendous opportunities to womenDays after his release from house arrest following a Pakistan court order 26/11 Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed moved the United Nations seeking removal of his name from the list of designated terrorists. In his petition the JuD chief contended that there was no evidence to back the charges levelled against him. Saeed who carries a USD 10 million American bounty on his head has hired a Lahore-based law firm to file the plea on his behalf. It was in December 2008 following the Mumbai attacks of 26/11 in which 166 people were killed India requested the UN Security Council committee to designate Jamat-ud-Dawah the frontal organisation of Lashkar-e-Taiba as a global terrorist organisation and its leader Hafiz Mohammad Saeed a terrorist. Acting quickly on India s request the Security Council Al Qaeda and Taliban Sanctions Committee at its meeting held at the UN headquarters had approved Saeed s name after going through the information provided by India in support of its demand. The Sanctions Committe had also designated Lashkar-e-Taiba chief Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi and Haji Muhammad Ashraf chief of finance of the group as terrorists after a request from the US. The UN listed Hafiz Saeed as a designated terrorist on December 10 2008. Saeed was subjected to freezing of assets travel band and arms embargo. According to the UNSC official website Saeed was included in the list pursuant to paragraphs 1 and 2 of resolution 1822 (2008) as being associated with Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (QDe.118) and Al Qaida (QDe.004) for participating in the financing planning facilitating preparing or perpetrating of acts of activities by in conjunction with under the name of on behalf or in support of both entities . For all the latest India News download Indian Express App IE Online Media Services Pvt Ltd More Top News Amazon Echo Plus and Amazon Alexa review: The smartest speaker around Sachin Tendulkar s No. 10 jersey unofficially retired by BCCI Just days after his 10 month-long house arrest came to an end Jamaat-ud-Dawah chief and 26/11 attacks mastermind Hafiz Saeed has petitioned the United Nations to remove his name from its global terrorist list The Times of India reported on Tuesday.According to Hindustan Times Saeed s petition was routed through Mirza and Mirza a Lahore-based law firm. I cannot give details of the petition. I don t have the permission of my client to speak on this Barrister Haider Rasul Mirza who is Saeed s counsel at the UN told Hindustan Times.Saeed s UN petition comes after the Pakistan government decided against detaining him further in any other terror-related case. Punjab province s Judicial Review Board comprising judges of the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Wednesday unanimously ordered Saeed s release after he completed his detention period.Since 31 January Saeed had been under house arrest along with his four close aides Abdullah Ubaid Malik Zafar Iqbal Abdul Rehman Abid and Qazi Kashif Hussain under the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997 and the Fourth Schedule of Anti-Terrorism Act 1997.While the initial detention was only for a period of 90 days the government continued to extend the detention period under the public safety law .The UN had designated Saeed a terrorist after the 26 Novermber 2008 attacks in Mumbai which killed 166 people. The organisation had designated him a terrorist under UNSC resolution 1267 while the United States Department of the Treasury designated Saeed as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist under Executive Order 13224 in May 2008.File image of JuD chief Hafiz Saeed. ReutersWhat is Hafiz Saeed listed for?The UNSC designated Saeed a terrorist for his collaboration with the Al-Qaeda and Lashkar-e-Taiba which he founded in the 1990s. Notably the LeT the group behind the 26/11 attacks was designated a terrorist outfit under UNSC resolution 1267 in May 2005.Jamaat-ud-Dawah which is headed by Saeed has often been accused of being a front organisation of the LeT.In the words of the United Nations Security Council: Hafiz Muhammad Saeed was listed on 10 December 2008 pursuant to paragraphs one and two of resolution 1822 (2008) as being associated with Lashkar-e-Taiba and Al Qaida for participating in the financing planning facilitating preparing or perpetrating of acts of activities by in conjunction with under the name of on behalf or in support of both entities. Resolution 1822 which the security council statement referred to a resolution adopted in 2008 which denounced terrorism and reaffirmed the various sanctions on the individuals and organisations in the terror list.Who can delist themselves and how?Any member-state of the United Nations is eligible to send a request to seek delisting of individuals or entities in the terror list. Additionally the proscribed individual and institution can also send a request directly or through a representative.The individual or organisation has to appeal to the office of ombudsman at the UNSC. According to the UNSC any request must state why the delisitng will not work. The applicant also needs to reveal his or her present work profile as well as other information such as assets.According to Hindustan Times it may take at least six months for the application to be adjudicated. If the Committee approves a delisting request the Secretariat shall notify the Permanent Mission of the State or States where the individual or entity is believed to be located and in the case of individuals the country of which the person is a national or resident the UNSC website states.If the delisting process has been routed through the ombudsman then it will remove the name after a fixed period of time unless there is opposition from any member of the 15-member Al Qaeda sanctions committee or if the matter is taken to the five-member UNSC.Here is a list of people who have been delisted earlierThere have been 79 applications for delisting of proscribed individuals or organisations since 2010.According to the ombudsman 78 applications have either been accepted or awaiting final approval while one case filed on 27 March 2017 is still in the fact finding phase.Since 2010 most of the requests for delisting have been approved by the ombudsman 56 out of 78. Only 17 requests have been denied so far.In September 2010 Safet Ekrem Durguti a Bosnian national who headed the Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation became the first to be removed from the UN terror list. The Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation was accussed by the UN of collecting funds for Al-Qaeda and other Islamist groups.Another individual involved with the foundation Tunisian national Shafiq ben Mohamed ben Mohamed Al-Ayadi was delisted in 2011 after he submitted a request to the ombudsman.The last successful application was that of Adil Muhammad Mahmud Abd al-Khaliq a Bahrainian national who was arrested in the UAE for alleged terror financing links. He applied for delisting in November 2016 which was granted in August this year.India US react to Saeed s releaseThe day Pakistan s judicial board released Saeed from house arrest the US had asked the Islamabad government to make sure that Saeed is re-arrested and charged for his crimes. The United States is deeply concerned that Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) leader Hafiz Saeed has been released from house arrest in Pakistan. LeT is a designated Foreign Terrorist Organisation responsible for the death of hundreds of innocent civilians in terrorist attacks including a number of American citizens state department spokesperson Heather Nauert said. The Pakistani government should make sure that he is arrested and charged for his crimes Nauert said in a statement after the release of the Jamaat-ud-Dawah chief.Ministry of External Affairs said Saeed s release confirmed once again the lack of seriousness by the Pakistan government in bringing to justice perpetrators of terrorism including individuals and entities designated by the UN. It also appears to be an attempt by the Pakistani system to mainstream proscribed terrorists. Pakistan has not changed its policy of shielding and supporting non-state actors and its true face is visible for all to see MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar had said and further added His release confirms once again the lack of seriousness on the part of the Pakistan government. It seems to be an attempt by the Pakistani system to mainstream proscribed terrorists. With inputs from PTI Islamic fundamentalism and the fuelling of terror are alive and kicking in Pakistan if the outpourings of public support in the wake of Jamaat-ud Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed s release from house arrest and the violent protests against a proposed new version of an oath to be taken by lawmakers that omitted mention of Prophet Muhammad are anything to go by.In the latter case the changes in the oath were dropped forthwith by a chastened government but the agitation escalated to such an extent that Law Minister Zahid Hamid who was seen to be the architect of the blasphemous changes was forced to quit.Tehreek-i-Labaik firebrand leader Khadim Hussain Rizvi who is the agitation spearhead is indeed in no mood to let up. He called for an immediate nationwide strike to agitate against the atrocities committed by the police on Saturday even as the agitation spread to Karachi Lahore and Multan.File image of former Pakistan law minister Zahid Hamid. Twitter @nailainayatTo the new generation of Pakistani liberals who abhor the whole hypocritical emphasis on blasphemy the fact that Facebook YouTube DailyMotion and Instagram were all down in parts of the country as the government mulled blocking cell phone signals was a signal for obscurantism which angered them. Just prior to this Pakistani authorities had announced a ban on all live TV news coverage of the operation to remove the protesters. All satellite TV channel licensees were directed to exhibit utmost sensitivity on the matter and refrain from live coverage of the ongoing operation at Faizabad Islamabad read a notice from the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulation Authority.Hamid tried to cover up the decision to change the oath-taking text by ascribing the whole thing to a clerical error but the ferocity of the demand for his ouster was unrelenting.At least six protesters were killed and 200 injured including dozens of police officers and paramilitary troops as stone-throwing crowds fought with police for control of a highway intersection.Supporters of Rizvi s political party camping at the Faizabad Interchange blocking the main road from the capital Islamabad to neighbouring Rawalpindi clashed with thousands of Pakistani police officers in riot gear who were firing tear gas and rubber bullets paralysing the Pakistani capital for weeks with a protest on the main highway.Interestingly there was a perceptible reluctance on the part of the army to deal with the agitators pointing to the fact that the forces did not want to be seen as being on the side of the government against the Islamists. This is an ominous sign indeed. It raises possibilities that if the agitation continues despite Hamid s resignation the army s support to the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) government cannot be taken for granted.As the standoff has escalated protest leaders have stepped up their demands and are now calling for the entire cabinet to resign. Behind-the-scene attempts are however being made to defuse the situation.On Saturday a new dimension was added to the rally when Rizvi addressing his supporters from atop a trailer accused the authorities of working on behalf of the United States. (Donald) Trump says change Pakistan s blasphemy laws. Are you acting on his orders? he asked the police.There is a section in Pakistan especially among the hardcore elements that despises the Americans. Especially when passions are aroused against them there are many takers for defying them. While the Americans have already expressed great displeasure over Saeed s release and the sham nature of his arrest and trial United States statements on scrapping the blasphemy law are likely to meet with fresh resistance.The law on blasphemy was the result of former president Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq s attempts to ingratiate himself to the mullahs when he was losing ground with the people. It was Zia-ul-Haq as a former army chief who had built up a strong army-mullah bond.Finding Pakistan increasingly isolated in the world with a recognisable tag of a fundamentalist state the Pakistan government thought it expedient to modify the oath of office as a move to look more liberal than it actually is.This is what led to the agitation that is threatening the existence of the Shahid Khaqan Abbasi government. There was no love lost between the Nawaz Sharif government and the army top brass in the latter s last days in power. The same is the case with Sharif s chosen successor and the forces.Pakistan is today widely looked upon as a failed state as much because it is the fountainhead of terror but also because of the power the fundamentalists wield in the country among large sections of people. As it is over the years the severely depleted Hindus and Christians have been reduced to second-class citizens.Successive governments in Pakistan trained and armed terrorists to fight the Indian Army in Kashmir. Today the Pakistanis themselves are victims of unbridled terror because extremism has a tendency to escalate beyond proportions.By fanning the flames of fundamentalism over the years have successive Pakistan governments been committing the blunder of raising another monster that would prove to be a huge liability for Pakistan? Only time will tell but that appears a strong possibility. Pakistan s law minister has resigned after weeks of big protests staged by a hardline cleric against a perceived softening of the country s blasphemy laws. At least six protesters were killed and 200 injured in Islamabad on Saturday when thousands of police officers unsuccessfully tried to disperse a three-week sit-in that had virtually paralysed the capital. Zahid Hamid s resignation is the latest in a series of government concessions to religious extremists who have been edging their way further into the political mainstream. Q&A What s behind the protests in Pakistan? Show Hide Rallies began on 8 November when firebrand cleric Khadim Hussain Rizvi staged a sit-in in Islamabad over the government s alteration of the wording of an electoral oath in which politicians swear that Muhammad is the last prophet. Rizvi and supporters of his party Tehreek-e Labbaik Ya Rasoolullah regarded the change as pandering towards religious minorities particularly the Ahmadi sect who believe in later prophets considered heresy by law in Pakistan. The government claimed it had made a mistake and immediately reversed the change but protesters insisted on the resignation of the law minister Zahid Hamid. Up to 2 000 people blocked a key entrance to Islamabad and police set up barriers to prevent protesters from reaching government buildings. For three weeks the Pakistani capital was on virtual lockdown and protests spread to other cities including Lahore and Karachi. The government asked the army to step in but the military refused. Clashes between police and protesters led to at least six deaths and 200 injuries. On 27 November the army brokered a deal between the government and the protesters in which the minister was made to step down. Photograph: Aamir Qureshi/AFP Was this helpful? Thank you for your feedback. Last week a court in Lahore lifted the house arrest of Hafiz Saeed a militant leader with a 10m ( 7.5m) American bounty on his head for international terrorism who heads a growing political movement and is fiercely opposed to India and western interference. The decision to resign was taken in a bid to steer the country out of the prevailing critical situation Hamid said according to a report in Pakistan s Tribune newspaper. Observers said Monday s deal could set a dangerous precedent. Zealots have taken the law into their own hands. Mullahs can get up and ask for anyone s resignation so this is the death of rationality said Zahid Hussain a political analyst. This is complete surrender to hardline Islamists. It s a sad day for Pakistan: it shows that the state is so weak and that we can t stand up to blackmailing. Hussain also rebuked the army which brokered the deal and has been criticised for its alleged proximity to extremist groups for refusing to step in against the protesters despite a request from the government. In the deal on Monday with Khadim Hussain Rizvi who heads the Tehreek-e-Labbaik party the government also agreed to release a report on an investigation into the alteration of an electoral oath declaring the prophet Muhammad as God s final prophet. Protesters saw the change as appeasing a religious minority the Ahmadis who are officially deemed heretic. The government will also free and drop charges against detained protesters. In return Rizvi agreed not to issue a fatwa against the minister seemingly to dissuade attacks on his person. Blasphemy is already a capital offence in Pakistan and serves as a rallying cry for Islamic extremist. Unfounded allegations regularly trigger mob attacks and lynching which the government has been unable to prevent. The recent protests expose the fragility of the governing Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz party which has been under increasing pressure since the disqualification of the prime minister Nawaz Sharif in July over corruption allegations. Ousted Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif indicted over corruption claims Read more The government has met fierce criticism for its handling of the recent crisis and its failure to uphold the rule of law and safety for citizens. There is no reasonable set of circumstances in which a fledgling political party no matter how aggrieved or agitated could be allowed to not just hold the federal capital and the fourth most populous city of the country hostage but also trigger protests across the country the Dawn newspaper wrote in an editorial. A spokesman for Tehreek-e-Labbaik said the demonstrators did not feel victorious. It s a sad day because dozens of our protesters have been martyred said the spokesman Ejaz Ashrafi. However the Benazir Bhutto hospital in Rawalpindi could only confirm it had received six bodies. A government minister meanwhile suggested the rallies had been planned by outsiders without elaborating who might be behind them. A great game is being played Mushahid Ullah Khan minister for climate change who is part of the committee to investigate the electoral oath told the Guardian. Someone has manipulated this entire situation. Eventually we will find out who was behind this big game and what it was all about.