Pakistan Fails to Prosecute Terror Suspect

Photos

Pakistan Fails to Prosecute Terror Suspect | Mumbai Attack

see larger image

uploaded by Mritunjay

• 

  uploaded by Mritunjay | add comment

• 

  uploaded by Mritunjay | add comment

Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, the founder of Jamat-ud-Dawa (JuD) and the Pakistani-based Militant organization Lashkar-e-Taiba(LeT) was let off scott-free after the Lahore High Court ordered his release in absence of adequate proof by prosecution. Both the Indian and Western officials accuse Saeed of masterminding the terrorist siege of Mumbai in November 2008 which left nearly 200 people dead including many foreign nationals.

Saeed was placed under house arrest after Pakistan was pressured by global community in wake of the Mumbai terror attacks. It was the second time that Saeed was let of similar charges in wake of lack of evidence. JuD is a front organisation of the LeT, blamed by India for carrying out the November 2008 Mumbai attacks.India has named Saeed as the mastermind of the attacks. Days after the attack, it was designated as a terrorist group by the U.N. Security Council.

Pakistani authorities in some cases have turned a blind eye when militant groups have simply renamed themselves and continued operating as before. LeT was an offshoot of Jamaat-ud-Dawa wal-Irshad, which is a preaching, publishing and propaganda network set up by Hafiz Saeed for jihad in Afghanistan in 1985. LeT's rise as a major Pakistani group operating in Kashmir is widely credited to Mr Saeed's close links with the Pakistani military and the intelligence services. The group also had access to huge funds from Middle Eastern mosques and a countrywide network to raise donations locally. In 2002 when the LeT was about to be proscribed by the then Pervez Musharraf regime, Saeed revived the group's parent organisation, Jamaat-ud-Dawa wal-Irshad, amended its name and was able to carry on the business as usual.

In the latest case of 2008 Mumbai attacks after being pressurized the Pakistan govt. under Pervez Mussharaf had to take action against the organization and Saeed was placed under house arrest though no charges were pressed till late. The FIRs filed later on also were not apt and this led to the charges being quashed in court. The defense attorney made a case of the JuD not being a baned organization in Pakistan which was the base of the FIRs.

With the terrorist attacks on a rise within Pakistan it's high time Pakistan takes some serious steps against terror organizations not to appease the global community but to ensure internal peace and safety of it's citizens.