A few days ago, Pakistan government supposedly ‘cracked down’ against Hafiz Saeed by putting him under house arrest. A video went viral where Hafiz Saeed is seen blaming the pressure mounted on Pakistan administration by Narendra Modi and Donald Trump behind his arrest. Pakistan authorities also said that, in its fight against terrorism, it has taken a strong action against Hafiz Saeed’s organisation Jamaat-ud-Dawa. However, as it has been the duplicitous nature of Pakistan, it stood true to its notoriety once again. Hafiz Saeed’s Jamaat-ud-Dawa has rebranded itself under the new name of ‘Tehreek Azadi Jammu and Kashmir’. While on one hand Pakistan says it is acting against Hafiz Saeed and his organisation, on the other hand it is fooling the world as the same group with changed name emerges.
About a week before he was arrested, Hafiz Saeed had indicated that he might launch Tehreek Azadi Jammu and Kashmir (TAJK) to “expedite the freedom of Kashmir”. The launching of same terror group, albeit with a different name shows that Hafiz Saeed has deep contacts within the establishments who helped them to figure out how to resurface and survive after the clampdown on his network of Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) and Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation (FIF). Official sources confirmed that the two organisations have started activities under the name new of TAJK and were planning to organise events on February 5, which is observed as ‘Kashmir Day’ in Pakistan. The TAJK banners have been displayed in Lahore and other cities and towns.
While on one hand Pakistan government has banned both the pre-existing terror organisations of Hafiz Saeed- Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) and Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation (FIF), on the other hand, he is continuing with his terror activities by just renaming the old organisations. More importantly, the government of Pakistan remains a mute observe. This incident is a clear indication that Pakistan adopts when it comes to dealing with terror groups that target India. In order to show the world that it is acting against terror, it bans the groups of Hafiz Saeed and puts him under house arrest. However, it turns a blind eye when the same Hafiz Saeed continues with his terror activities just by renaming his terror group. It is impossible that Hafiz Saeed can do all these without any direct help from Pakistani establishment.
It is not the first time that Pakistan has tried to fooled the world when it comes to taking action against terror groups. It has put various terrorists under “house arrests” in the past. However, in all the cases, the terrorists have planned terror attacks from within the jail and have got access to all incriminating materials. Lakhvi even fathered a kid from the confines of jail tells a lot about how serious Pakistan is. No doubt, it has always been the ISI and Military that has called the shots in Pakistan, and hence expecting that the country takes action against the terrorist groups will be futile. A military and its intelligence service whose sole aim of existence is bleeding India by thousand cuts cannot be expected to take actions against the very terrorists they fund and train.
Once again, the evil designs of Pakistan and its act of fooling the world has been badly exposed. The dual-standards of Pakistan when it comes acting tough on terror has been brought into limelight many times in the past, and this incident once again, confirms the role of Pakistan establishment’s support to terrorist groups.
Kshitij Mohan
