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

Nicole Kidman is in talks toplay Grace Kelly of Monaco

Australian actress Nicole Kidman isin talks to play the late Grace Kelly,the screen legend who married theprince of Monaco, in a film byFrench director Olivier Dahan,according to Variety. The report saysKidman, 44, is in negotiations to playKelly in Grace of Monaco, whichPierre-Ange Le Pogam is producingwith writer Arash Amel. Thescreenplay by Amel is not a biopicbut centres on the period fromDecember 1961to November 1962.At the time, Kelly, an Oscar winnerand a mother of two, was calledupon to save Monaco from anescalating tax crisis with France. AFP

Former bandmates sueDaughtry for fraud

Three of Chris Daughtry’s formerbandmates are suing him, claiminghe defrauded them out of proceedsfrom four songs that included musicand lyrics they wrote together. TheNews & Record of Greensboro, in theUS state of North Carolina, reportsbassist Ryan Andrews, drummerScott Crawford and guitarist MarkPerry filed suit in Guilford CountySuperior Court. The lawsuit accusesDaughtry of “constructive fraud,breaches of fiduciary duty, unfairtrade practices, and other deceptiveand wrongful conduct”. Daughtrysaid the songs were written solely byhim. AP

Supermodel Klum files fordivorce from singer Seal

German supermodel Heidi Klumhas filed for divorce from her Britishsinger husband Seal. Klum cited“irreconcilable differences” in herdivorce petition filed in Los AngelesCounty Superior Court, whichshows they signed a post-nuptialagreement, according to reports.The couple vowed to be “civil” forthe sake of the four children whenthey announced their split inJanuary, with Seal saying it was“difficult” but made easier becauseof their continued feelings for eachother. Klum is seeking primarycustody of the children, with Sealgetting visitation rights. AFP

Mark Zuckerberg’s sisterplans ‘Silicon Valley’ show

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P E O P L E

Poldi the cat comes back‘from dead’ – after 16 years

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Gandhi question of girl, 10,stumps Indian government

A10-year-old Indian girl hasstumped the government with aRight to Information request askingwhen and how independence heroMahatma Gandhi became known asthe “father of the nation”. Primaryschool student Aishwarya Parasharput the question to the office ofIndian Prime Minister ManmohanSingh, which referred it to the homeministry and then on to the NationalArchives. Last month, the archivessaid its staff were unable to resolvethe matter of who bestowed the titleon Gandhi. “I’m feeling bad becauseno one has an answer to myquestion,” Parashar said. AFP

Wives cut up as husbands aregiven cash for having snip

A district in Indonesia is handing outcash to civil servants who volunteerfor vasectomies – but the initiativehas upset women who fear theirsterilised husbands will be morelikely to have affairs. Mukomukodistrict on Sumatra island is offeringone million rupiah (HK$850) to anyof its 2,000 male employees whohave the operation, in a bid tocontrol population growth. Districthead Ichwan Yunus said wives wereworried their sterilised husbandswould be more likely to have affairswith no need for contraception. Hesaid this was one of the “challenges”of the vasectomy scheme. AFP

Woman driver found withbaby zipped up in handbag

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TA L L S T O R I E S

3.3bWater company infrastructureacross England and Wales leakedthis many litres a day in 2010-11, theindustry regulator Ofwat said.Authorities banned about 20 millioncustomers from using garden hosesto water plants or wash cars amidworries over a drought. Seven watercompanies said they would enforcea ban after one of the driest two-yearperiods on record. It means Britonscaught using a hosepipe face a£1,000 (HK$12,300) fine. AP

¤554mThe amount (HK$5.62 billion) pettycorruption in the public sector costGreeks last year, according toTransparency International. But itwas down from the year before that,when it touched ¤632 million. Thewatchdog said 7.4 per cent ofhouseholds reported corruptionincidents in the public sector lastyear, marginally up from 7.2 per centin 2010. The nationwide surveyquestioned 12,020 people inNovember and December 2011. AP

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

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