hafiz saeed

NEWSMAKER

THEOTHER SIDE

Who wants to be a millionaire? InPakistan, all you have to do is give theUnited States information leading tothe arrest or conviction of HafizSaeed – an Islamist leader whosewhereabouts are usually not much ofa mystery.

Saeed is suspected of master-minding the attack on India’s finan-cial capital, Mumbai, in 2008 thatkilled 166, including six Americans.

The US last week placed a bountyof up to US$10 million on Saeed. Butunlike other figures at the top of thelist, such as al-Qaeda leader Aymanal-Zawahiri, who carries a US$25 mil-lion reward, or the Afghan Talibanleader Mullah Omar, the subject of aUS$10 million bounty, Saeed is noton the run in the lawless areas alongthe Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

Instead, the jihadist lives in plainsight in the eastern city of Lahore,running his operations from a com-pound on the edge of the city.

He appeared live on several tele-vision channels the day after Wash-ington announced the bounty, derid-ing the US reward as a “foolish step”that had been orchestrated by Paki-stan’s arch-enemy, India.

The next day he was openly wan-dering across Pakistan’s military gar-rison town of Rawalpindi, hangingout with some of the most anti-Amer-ican characters in the country.

“This is a laughable, absurdannouncement. Here I am in front ofeveryone, not hiding in a cave,”Saeed told a news conference at ahotel – a mere 40-minute drive fromthe US embassy in Islamabad andjust across from the headquarters ofPakistan’s army, the recipient ofbillions of dollars in US aid.

Pakistani officials say Saeed and

his organisation, Jamaat-ud-Dawa,have been cleared by Pakistanicourts. They say they don’t under-stand what all the fuss is about andcomplain the Americans are actinglike cowboys.

“The United States is acting likeit’s Clint Eastwood,” said a seniorsecurity official. “It’s as if they justwant to ride a horse into Pakistan andjust drag people like him away.”

Saeed, a man with a quiet butintense demeanour and henna-dyedhair, has turned the drone strikes andother issues, like the presence ofWestern troops in Afghanistan, into arallying cry against the US.

That has won him support onPakistan’s streets. “He wants thedrone strikes to stop. He wants thebloodshed in Afghanistan to end,”said a senior police official in Paki-stan’s commercial capital, Karachi.“Hafiz Saeed isn’t saying anythingwrong. In fact, he’s a patriot.”

That support was evident on Fri-day, when hundreds of Islamist activ-ists took to the streets of Pakistan de-manding holy war and torching USflags to condemn the bounty.

Protests were organised in Islam-abad, the neighbouring garrison cityof Rawalpindi, the central shrine cityof Multan and in Muzaffarabad, capi-tal of Pakistani-administered Kash-

mir. In Muzaffarabad, around 500activists shouted “al-Jihad, al-Jihad(holy war)” as they marched on thecity and set fire to a US flag.

“Such steps are forcing Muslimstowards guns,” said Abdul Aziz Alvi,the local head of Jamaat-ud-Dawa.

“We condemn the American an-nouncement against Hafiz Saeed,”cried a banner at the rally, which wasattended by members of otherbanned and religious groups.

Saeed, 61, founded Lashkar-e-Taiba in the 1990s and it became oneof South Asia’s best-funded militantorganisations.

He abandoned its leadership afterIndia accused it of being behind anattack on the Indian parliament inDecember 2001. He denies anywrongdoing and links to militants.

Saeed’s main political forum nowis the Defence of Pakistan Council, acoalition of right-wing, religious andextremist groups that includes Lash-kar. The group has been opposed tothe government reopening Nato sup-ply lines to Afghanistan, which havebeen closed since November.

The coalition has staged noisydemonstrations in recent monthsand Saeed said the campaign hadworried Washington.

“The US decision is aimed atsilencing the Defence Council ofPakistan and to ensure resumption ofsupplies through backdoor channelsand increase interference in Paki-stan,” he said.

The former professor of Islamicstudies seemed unfazed by thebounty. “I am here, I am visible.America should give that rewardmoney to me,” he said at the pressconference.

Washington later sought to clarifythe US reward for Saeed, saying thatthe money offered was not for hiscapture but for information that

would allow his prosecution in acourt in the United States orelsewhere.

State Department spokesmanMark Toner said: “We all know wherehe is – you know, every journalist inPakistan and in the region knowshow to find him – but we’re lookingfor information that can be usable toconvict him in a court of law.”

The rewards marked a shift in thelong-standing US calculation thatgoing after the leadership of anorganisation used as a proxy by thePakistani military against Indiawould cause too much friction with

the Pakistani government. PakistaniForeign Office spokesman AbdulBasit said any US claims againstSaeed must be able to stand up incourt. “Pakistan would prefer to re-ceive concrete evidence to proceedlegally rather than to be engaging in apublic discussion on this issue,” Basitsaid.

The US may be hoping the rewardmoney for Saeed will force Pakistanto curb his activities, even if it isn’twilling to arrest him. But the newsconference he called in Rawalpindiwas an indication that is unlikely, andthe bounty may even help him by

boosting his visibility. Pakistan keptSaeed under house arrest for severalmonths after the Mumbai attacks butreleased him after he challenged hisdetention in court.

It has also resisted demands fromIndia to do more, saying there isn’tsufficient evidence.

Security analysts in Islamabadsaid Pakistan’s civilian governmentwould like to act against Saeed buthad been prevented from doing so bythe military, which feared a backlashfrom militant activists.

Speaking privately, a close asso-ciate of Saeed’s admitted to feeling

“endangered and worried” by the USdecision. But publicly, Jamaat-ud-Dawwa – an arm of Lashkar-e-Taibawhich promotes the puritanicalWahhabi interpretation of Islam andis also involved in charitable and hu-manitarian work – called the US deci-sion “another attack on Islam andMuslims”.

“Now that he has a price on hishead, for this money anyone is will-ing to do anything,” said Javed, a 55-year-old government employee whodeclined to give his full name.

“Once people see the moneythere is no saving him. Only God cansave him.”

Some Pakistanis could not under-stand why the bounty was issuedwhile Saeed is in plain view.

“It is unlikely that anything willcome out of this. You put bounties on people who are hiding, not those walking around free,” saidbusinessman Haris Chaudhry. “It’sridiculous.”

On the edge of Islamabad, a Paki-stani intelligence officer who hashandled militant groups for decadesshook his head as he pondered theUS reward.

“If the guy who decided to do thiscould get a job in the State Depart-ment, then I could be the president ofthe United States,” the chucklingoperative, wearing a suit and puffingon a cigarette, said.

“God bless America.” Associated Press, Reuters, The New YorkTimes, Agence France-Presse

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Agencies in Rawalpindi, Pakistan

Suspected terror mastermind has a huge price on his head, but he isn’t hidingin a cave … he’s walking freely round Lahore and appearing on Pakistan TV

THE MAN ABOUTTOWN WORTH AUS$10m BOUNTY

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The US is actinglike Clint Eastwood… they want to ridein on a horse anddrag him awaySENIOR PAKISTAN SECURITY OFFICIAL

You put bountieson people who are hiding, notthose walkingaround freeHARIS CHAUDHRY, BUSINESSMAN

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FA C T S & F I G U R E S

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