Billiard is an old game often compared to Diplomacy; But 'extradite Hafiz' card of Modi Govt is something more sinister for Pakistan..It's put Islamabad on Litmus test

 
The 'Litmus test' is one of the surest manner of laboratory tests in Chemistry.
Billiard is an old game often compared to Diplomacy. But the Modi government had played the 'extradite Hafiz' card on Pakistan and it is something more sinister for authorities in Islamabad as Pakistan is gearing up for general elections.

The Modi government's formal request has put Islamabad on Litmus test. Elections in Pakistan also means a good combo package of army, neta class, corruption-money and terror elements. 

Hence the 'demand' from New Delhi has caught the Pakistan's interim government unawares. Actually for all practical purpose, a fund-starved nation is looking for 'panacea' to its economic and governance ills through the ensuing elections. 

One roadmap is improved relations with India. Hence even Nawaz Sharif, not a blue eyed 'old boy' of Pakistan military is back in the reckoning. 

With Vajpayee: Sharif tried to /'improve ties' 

But Pakistan wants to remain true to its old legacy image -- a terror friendly and grossly anti-India nation. So when the news was flashed about New Delhi seeking the /extradition' of Hafiz Saeed notwithstanding the fact there is no 'extradition treaty' between two countries; they are caught off guards! 

Any other country or even Pakistan in any other situation would have said "nothing doing...no such treat". But Islamabad is faced with a predicament -- a conundrum of its own creation !

Hence, a foreign ministry spokesperson in Islamabad Mumtaz Zahra Baloch could hardly say -  

“This question is based on speculative reporting and we would not like to comment on speculative reports". The reality check is -- when a spokesman (of MEA Arindam Bagchi) told the briefing, it is hundred percent formal and a done thing.

   

But the bigger issue is why is India bothering, and why it flagged off the issue?

New Delhi could have filed a 'formal request' for legal assistance. It's a new and assertive move from India's strategic affairs think tank. 'Let Hafiz Saeed face trial for Mumbai terror attack of 2008'.

A total of 175 people, including civilians, security personnel, and nine of the attackers, were killed in the attacks. Among the dead were 29 foreign nationals. 

They included   six Americans, 4 - Israelis, Germany - 3, Australia - 2, Canada France - 2 and one each from Italy, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Japan, Jordan, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mexico, Singapore and Thailand. 1[206] –

As many as 141 Indians also died and scores were injured. Now the story from across the border has been - 

Well, Pakistan has launched its own probe. When Islamabad was asked to 'punish' Hafiz, it decided to drag its feet. 

Bagchi with foreign minister Dr Jaishankar

“We have conveyed a request along with relevant supporting documents to the government of Pakistan,” India's MEA spokesman Bagchi told reporters in Delhi. 

Saeed, a hardline cleric is also accused by the US besides India of orchestrating the 2008 Mumbai attacks.

Western media chose to call him an "albeit shadowy" figure in Pakistan since the 2000s.

"Though his media presence has dwindled over the years, the past decade has seen Saeed in and out of the limelight owing to crackdowns by the government on his organisation Lashkar-i-Taiba (LeT) and its charity wing, Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD), due to mounting international pressure," said one report published in Dawn website. 

According to the BBC, Saeed founded the LeT in the 1990s; when it was banned, the revival of Jamaat-ud-Dawa wal-Irshad — a much older organisation — was witnessed in 2002 when it was renamed Jamaat-ud-Dawa. Though the JuD leader insists his organisation has worked for Islamic welfare, especially in the aftermath of natural disasters, the United States has maintained that the group is a front for militant activities.

In early 2017, the Pakistan's federal government launched a supposed to be 'crackdown' against the JuD, placing Saeed under house arrest. However, Saeed was released in November 2017 after the Lahore High Court refused to extend the period of his confinement. In 2018, Pakistan endorsed the United Nations’ list of banned terrorist organisations by extending the ban on the outfit in Pakistan as well. 

Prior to this, the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan had barred JuD and several other such organisations named in a list of banned outfits by the United Nations Security Council from collecting donations in the country.

A country-wide ban was also imposed after former president Mamnoon Hussain amended the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA), 1997 and issued the amended Anti-Terrorism Ordinance, 2018.  Saeed was arrested once more by the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) in July 2019, while he was travelling from Lahore to Gujranwala. 

Prior to his arrest, 23 first information reports were registered against JuD leaders, including Saeed and JuD Naib Emir Abdul Rehman Makki, at police stations in Lahore, Gujranwala, Multan, Faisalabad and Sargodha. In 2022, an anti-terrorism court awarded him a combined sentence of 33 years imprisonment in April 2022 after he was found guilty in two cases of terror financing registered by the CTD. 

But things are hazy as to whether he is really behind bars or otherwise!  The googly from New Delhi is really a tough one! 

If Pakistan is keen to resume talks and normal ties with India, it must respond 'positively' on Hafiz Saeed. Even a matured and shrewd politician Nawaz Sharif will be clueless. 

Moreover, a fierce electoral battle is involved in the entire game. Hafiz's son is in the fray himself. Hafiz Talha Saeed has filed his paper from Lahore.

ends