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| Anti-India Hafiz Saeed in news again | | | NEW DELHI, OCT. 22
Even as Hafiz Mohamed Saeed, currently heading Pakistan-based Jamaat-ud-Dawa, has reiterated in Lahore that he is "a charity worker, not a terorist", Islamabad has kept his group on a watch list. Signifcantly, however, the Pakistan government is not compelled to ban the Jamaat-ud-Dawa until the United Nations designates it a terrorist organisation.
And even as Hafiz Saeed, after his release from the 71-day detention in Lahore last week, also reiterated in the course of an interview to a British news agency that his organisation is all about relief and social work, Jamaat-ud-Dawa has been accused of raising funds and recruits for the dreaded terrorist group, Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT). By the time he was freed from his place of confinement, the United States claimed that Hafiz Saeed's organisation had Al Qaeda connections.
LeT is drawn from the same Wahabi Muslim sect that has shaped Asama bin Laden's worldview. But security experts in Pakistan have been reported to be of the opinion that any ties between LeT and A Qaeda were loose and did not survive after 9/11, when militants were forced to reassess their friends. Hafiz Saeed continues to enjoy the reputation as the founder of Lashkar-e-Toiba. Yet, he now challenges anyone to prove that he was ever the chief of the LeT.
Whatever Hafiz Saeed's re-structured plan or tactics, both India and the US continue to regard his Jamaat-ud-Dawa as a front for terrorist group blamed for bombs that killed more than 180 people in Mumbai on July 11 this year. He has, onthe other hand, told the British news agency that he "is the victim of an Indian smear cmpaign". Despite of his vehement denial of reports about his role as the guiding force of the LeT, he is widely and better known as the founder of Lashkar-e-Toiba, a banned jihadi group fighting Indian rule in Kashmir.
But he has placed himself on record saying that he is "a charity worker" and that the rest is "Indian propaganda". Members of the intelligence community, including Pakistanis, still regard him as the moving spirit behind LeT. Referring to India's charge that the LeT was behind the July 11 Mumbai train blasts, Hafiz Saeed condemned the atacks, saying that targeting civilians violated the laws of Islam. He also denied any Pakistani role in an event that had threatened to derail the "flagging" Indo-Pakistan peace process.
"They are making great efforts to link us with Lashkar-e-Taiba, with the ISI (Inter Services Intelligence) and even with Al Qaeda", he was quoted as telling the British news agency. He also accused Indian police of obtaining what he termed as "confessions by torture". New Delhi has, meanwhile, reiterated that it will share evidence with Pakistan to see just how serious President General Pervez Musharraf is about nullifying groups like LeT, which security analysts say enjoys ISI support.
They suspect that the ISI views LeT as a key asset for keeping a militant option open in Kashmir, while General Musharraf tries making peace with India.
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