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| Centre for close watch on LeT | | Lashkar supports attacks on Indian security forces | |
B L KAK
NEW DELHI, OCT. 19: Within hours after his release from a Pakistani jail, Hafiz Mohamed Saeed, founder of the dreaded Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), went into action supervising the terrorist activity of his followers in the vicinity of Lahore. He was released on Tuesday after 71-day detention.
Hafiz Saeed, who is going about as the chief of Jamaat-ud-Dawa after his Lashkar-e-Toiba was banned by the Pakistan government, fired the first salvo against India soon after his release from detention: "India is sponsoring terorist activities within Pakistan". He vehemently denied the charge that his organisation is a negative factor in Pakistan's relations with its neighbours.
Pakistani media quoted him as saying that Pakistan has never had good relations with India, and, hence, it would be "wrong to put the blame on him". Hafiz Saeed was also quoted as saying: "It is quite obvious that Pakistan's relations with India were never excellent in the past, nor are they likely to be so in the future, regardless of the Jamaat-ud-Dawa's existence". He said that he had discerned from media statements during his 71-day detention that Pakistan's relations with India had only "deteriorated further".
India had "failed" to solve its internal problems and had instead begun a blame game against Pakistan, he said, adding that India was also sponsoring terrorist activities within Pakistan. It was regrettable that the Pakistan government buckles in the face of Indian propaganda instead of vigorously countering it, he said.
He further said that the Pakistan government could not restrict him from "spreading the Allah's message". "Detention and arrest cannot stop me from spreading the message of Allah," he reportedly said while addressing Jamaat-ud-Dawa workers present at the Markaz Al Qadsia Chauburji in Lahore.
After Washington designated Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) as a terrorist organisation in 2001 and imposition of ban on the group by the Pak government, LeT renamed itself Jamaat-ud-Dawa inorder to evade sanctions. Hafiz Saeed's confidant and international spokseperson of the Jamaat-ud-Dawa, Abdullah Muntazer, was on Thursday quoted as saying that if the Indian security forces and government personnel are attacked, "we support it".
This, according to Indian official and security agencies, is a significant pointer to what the jihadis have up their sleeve, particularly in Jammu and Kashmir, in the coming days and weeks. EARLY TIMES was officially told that fresh instructions have just gone out from the Minstry of Home Affairs, urging States, particularly the ones in north India, to devise ways and means for efective and close watch on the terrorist organisations, particularly the Lashkar-e-Toiba.
These instructions have been dashed off at a time when the Defence Minister, Pranab Mukherjee, has adopted a rigid posture against Pakistan. In his address to thew combined armed forces' commanders' conference in New Delhi on Wednesday, Mukherjee lashed out at Pakistan, saying that there is no apparent change in Pakistan's intent to support cross-border terrorism, not only in Jammu and Kashmir but also in other parts of India.
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