Hafiz Muhammad Saeed: Cloning Terror By Ambreen Agha

There's no need of announcing bounties. We are not hiding in caves. Hafiz Muhamm ad Saeed, at a Press Conference in Islamabad, April 3, 2012. Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, the Chief of Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD), the front organisation o f the Pakistan based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), finds no reason to hide. He operates with impunity, conducting numberless mass rallies across Pakistan under the ban ner of the newly formed Difa-e-Pakistan (Defense of Pakistan) Council (DPC). DPC came into being towards the end of 2011, and comprises 44 religious and politic al parties, including a number of banned terrorist formations. Its declared ideo logy pits it against a American-Jewish-Indian conspiracy under which the US withdra wal from Afghanistan after a decade of brutal occupation is intended to leave Indi a in a position where it can dominate the region and serve the interests of (a) Zionist Controlled world. These increasingly visible activities continue, despite the US announcement, on April 2, 2012, of a bounty of USD 10 million for information leading to Saeeds ar rest or conviction. The US holds Saeed responsible for his alleged role in the N ovember 26, 2008, Mumbai terror attacks. US State Department spokesperson Victor ia Nuland stated, "It (the bounty) has everything to do with Mumbai and his braz en flouting of the justice system... It is because we want to see him brought to justice." The US also announced a USD 2 million bounty under its Rewards for Ju stice Programme for Saeeds brother-in-law and LeT deputy leader, Hafiz Abdur Rehman Makki. The bounties were posted on the US State Department Rewards for Justice Website, which stated, Saeed is suspected of masterminding numerous terrorist attacks, including the 20 08 Mumbai attacks, which resulted in the deaths of 166 people, including six Ame rican citizens... Additionally, the United States Department of the Treasury has designated Saeed as a Specially Designated National under Executive Order 13224 . Saeed was also individually designated by the United Nations under UNSCR 1267 in December 2008. Lashkar-e-Tayyiba was designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organi zation in December 2001. In April 2008, the United States designated Jamaat-ud-Da wa as a Foreign Terrorist Organization; similarly, the United Nations declared J amaat-ud-Dawa a terrorist organization in December 2008... . US Government sources indicate that one of the main reasons for the US announcin g the USD two million reward for Makki was his proximity to the Afghan Taliban su preme commander Mullah Omar and al Qaeda's chief Ayman al-Zawahiri. Saeeds response to the announcement of the bounties has been contemptuous. Moving freely across Pakistan, he held a defiant Press Conference close to the country 's military headquarters in Rawalpindi on April 3, 2012, declaring, I am here, I am visible. America should give that reward money to me. I will be in Lahore tom orrow. America can contact me whenever it wants to. He also dared the US to carry out a military raid against him like the one that killed al Qaeda founder Osama Bin Laden, declaring that he was not hiding and would himself give his whereabo uts to the US. Despite his provocative stance, and in a rather bizarre announcement, on April 2 9, 2012, the US Ambassador to Pakistan, Cameron Munter, blamed the Pakistani med ia for "misreporting" the issue, claiming that the US Government had not announc

ed any bounty on Saeed. "Though Hafiz Saeed is a suspected accused of the Mumbai terror attacks, the US Government didn't place any bounty or head money for him ." Allegations subsequently surfaced that Munter had sought to pacify the JuD ch ief in a one-on-one meeting in Islamabad held on an unspecified date, though bot h sides have categorically denied such a meeting. Significantly, on May 9, 2012, a US State Department official disclosed that Munter would step down from his p osition as Ambassador to Pakistan this summer, after serving less than two years i n the post. The official added that it was the ambassadors decision to go... Amidst rising confusion, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on May 7, 2012, r econfirmed the bounty, stating, in Kolkata (India), "I authorised the award for Hafiz Saeed who was responsible for attacks in Mumbai. It may take longer than w e like but we will stand with you (India) and try to make that happen. India and the US are greatest rebukes to religious discrimination." On February 16, 2012, much before announcing the bounty, the US had strongly urg ed Pakistan to prevent Saeed from moving freely in the country, freeze the asset s of the groups associated with him, and stop allowing LeT to acquire weapons. Though it is not clear whether Saeed was present at the DPC demonstration at Lah ore, on April 6, 2012, the crowd at the meeting carried banners and placards ins cribed with slogans in his favour and against the US and India. Leaders from dif ferent religious groups delivered fiery speeches, condemning the US for taking th is decision (on the bounty) under Indian pressure. Commander of the Hizb-ul-Mujahid een (HM) Asghar Rasool, who participated in the rally warned: The US is pleasing IndiaIts not the issue of Hafiz Saeed but of the entire Muslim Ummah and if we dont rise to the occasion today it can happen to many others tomorrow. Frequent rallies are now being organised by DPC, with the participation of a num ber of proscribed outfits, including JuD, Ahl-e-Sunnat-Wal-Jamaat (ASWJ) and Lash kar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), as well as Islamist political groupings such as the Jamaat-e -Islami (JeI), Dawat Ahl-e-Hadees, Majlis Ahrar-e-Islam, International Khatam-eNabuwat and Jamiat-e-Ahl-e-Hadees, and mainstream political parties such as Paki stan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Jamaat Ulema Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) and Imran Khans Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). The presence of top terrorist leaders, including the father of the Taliban Maulana Sami-ul Haq and the LeJ founder Malik Ishaq, ra ises serious questions regarding the DPC, the state patronage that it, and others of its ilk, enjoy in Pakistan, as well as the ideological and political spectrum within which it is located. JuD Spokesperson Yahya Mujahid confirmed that Malik Ishaq was present on the stage during the DPC rally on February 17, 2012, in Mu ltan District. A sympathetic tone towards the Afghan Taliban dominates DPC rallies. Speaking ag ainst US-led NATO forces in Afghanistan, and warning Islamabad of serious consequ ences, on March 28, 2012, Saeed declared that if NATO supplies through Pakistan a re ever resumed, this would only further entrench the US in Afghanistan. Significa ntly, Pakistan closed NATO supply routes soon after US-led NATO forces attacked Pakistani troops on November 26, 2011, at the Salala Checkpost in the Mohmand Ag ency of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). Earlier, in a DPC rally on February 12, 2012, several speakers paid tribute to Afghan Taliban leader Mul lah Omar and warned that they would turn every square of the country into a Tahri r Square, if attempts were made to push the country into US subservience. We will go to the last extent to help the Kashmiris and ultimately India will ha ve to pull out its 800,000 troops from the occupied territory. When the United S tates (US) along with almost 40 other nations cannot perpetuate its presence in Afghanistan, how can India continue with its occupation of Kashmir? We will go to the last extent to help the Kashmiris and ultimately India will ha ve to pull out its 800,000 troops from the occupied territory. When the United S

tates (US) along with almost 40 other nations cannot perpetuate its presence in Afghanistan, how can India continue with its occupation of Kashmir?. All this occurs openly, despite the fact that Saeeds direct involvement in terror ist acts has been documented repeatedly and well. Adding to a large body of evid ence that has led to successive bans on virtually every organisation that Saeed heads (the DPC remains a present exception), David Coleman Headley, the Pakistan i American LeT operative involved in planning 26/11, in his confessional stateme nt in the US, had confirmed: "Hafiz Saeed had full knowledge of the Mumbai attac ks and they were launched only after his approval." India also has given significant evidence on Saeeds involvement in 26/11. Indian Government sources disclose that such evidence included the statement of Ajmal K asab the lone surviving gunman in the Mumbai attacks conceding that Saeed was pre sent during the selection and training of terrorists behind the 26/11 attack. Bruce Riedel, a former Central Investigation Agency (CIA) officer and now a seni or fellow in the Seban Centre at Brookings Institute, citing the documents recov ered from slain al Qaeda leader Osama bin Ladens hideaway in Abbottabad in the Kh yber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, observed that Saeed, who is an al Qaeda ally, wa s in close touch with Osama until his death: "Osama Bin Laden communicated with Saeed and others via courier. He practised very good opsec [operations security] . The two had a long-standing relationship going back to the creation of LeT in the 1980s... Osama Bin Laden provided some of the seed money to start the group (LeT)." The US has also claimed that it had h Osama bin Laden through a courier 26/11 attacks. On February 7, 2012, hat he had met with Osama bin Laden r the same scholar, Sheikh Bin Baz, hard evidence that Saeed was communicating wit and that Laden had played a key role in the Saeed himself confessed for the first time t and claimed that he (Saeed) had studied unde who taught Bin Laden and Ayman Al-Zawahiri.

Yet, Islamabad continues to shield Saeed claiming that there is no evidence agains t him to sustain a prosecution. Such claims have been endorsed at the highest level. Federal Minister for Interi or Rehman Malik claimed that, when Islamabad asked for evidence in support of th e US bounty, we came to know there was none... If America doesnt have any evidence and India still claims to have evidence, it should be shared with us. In a simil ar tone, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, on May 13, 2012, declared that there was insufficient evidence to arrest Saeed. "If you arrest him (Hafiz Saeed), th at means he will be released by the courts in Pakistan. For the courts you need more evidence... You know the judiciary is completely independent in Pakistan." Adding to this tragedy of errors, an unnamed counter-terrorism official in Islamab ad made the bizarre assertion, on April 6, 2012, that Saeed was helping de-radic alize militants: "Hafiz Saeed has agreed with the Punjab Government programme of de-radicalisation and rehabilitation of former jihadis and extended full cooper ation." Expressing concerns for his safety, the Federal Government had requested h im to maintain a low profile after the announcement of the US bounty. On April 2 3, 2012, Saeed told the media that Federal Government Agencies had advised him not to participate in public rallies for the time being. Significantly, reports indic ate that at least nine policemen, on six hour shifts, guard the three barricades set up by JuD volunteers about 200 to 300 meters from Saeed's house. Saeed is openly appreciative of the security offered to him, and the support given to the enterprise of jihadi terrorism, by the Pakistani state. On January 1, 20 12, he thus observed: Pakistan is unmatched in terms of the freedom it allows for the pursuit of jihad

and for the spread of Islam. No other territory in the world matched Pakistan and it was a great blessing from Allah... Non-Muslims were conspiring against Pakis tan both internally and externally. Saeed, undoubtedly, has enormous support from the authorities at the helm. Bruce Riedel notes, Saeed, a very public figure in Pakistan and admired by its military advocates a truly extreme vision: the destruction of India and the creation of a Muslim cali phate over the entire subcontinent. Both Saeed and LeT for years benefitted from state patronage, particularly, the Army and the Inter-Services Intelligence (IS I) Agency.. The open support extended by state and political agencies to the DPC and its var ious constituents, as well as to Saeed, Makki and other terrorist leaders, can o nly embolden existing Islamist extremist and terrorist formations in Pakistan, a nd create widening spaces for a new breed of violently intolerant clones. Islama bad continues to breed groups committed to violence in the name of jihad against the US, India and other infidel states. This enduring state collusion and the con sequent impunity with which extremists and terrorists function can only further devastate the fragile political, social and economic landscape in Pakistan, and destabilize the wider South Asian region as well. Ambreen Agha is a Research Assistant with Institute for Conflict Management, New Delhi Source: South Asia Intelligence Review URL: http://newageislam.com/islam,terrorism-and-jihad/ambreen-agha/hafiz-muhamma d-saeed--cloning-terror/d/7392

COMMENTSBy supporting dangerous and radical fanatics like Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, Pakistan's military establishment is slowly taking their country to the stone ag e. It is a shame that the judiciary has not been able to convict and imprision S aeed.