New Delhi:
The US has got its most-wanted terrorist: Osama bin Laden has been killed deep inside Pakistan. But India's most wanted, Hafiz Saeed, still roams free in that very country.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said: "This is America. We rise to the challenge, we persevere and we get the job done." The first question on many Indian minds - Why can't India get its most wanted?
(Watch: Laden's death not end of war on terror, says Hillary Clinton) India has evidence that Hafiz Saeed is the mastermind behind India's 9/11 - the Mumbai attacks in November 2008. And minutes after US President Barack Obama confirmed Osama's death, Union Home Minister P Chidambaram used the big news to put more pressure on Pakistan.
(Watch: No closure for 26/11 victims?)The Home Minister said, "Osama's killing 'deep inside Pakistan' underlines that terrorists find sanctuary in Pakistan...we believe perpetrators of the 26/11 attacks continue to be sheltered in Pakistan."
(Watch: Pak sanctuary for terrorists, says Chidambaram)Later on Monday night the Home Minister said while talking to NDTV that if Osama could be hunted down, why not the main perpetrators of 26/11?
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was less direct, but equally emphatic when he said, "This is a decisive blow to Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups. The international community and Pakistan, in particular, must work comprehensively to end the activities of all such groups who threaten civilized behaviour and kill innocent men, women and children."
(Read: Pak must end activities of terror groups, says PM) The confirmation that Osama was hiding in Pakistan, perhaps for as long as five years, may put Pakistan on the back foot, but Indian security experts say this does not mean that the Pakistani establishment will act against Hafiz Saeed or cooperate completely with India now.
"I don't see this incident changing the manner in which Pakistan handles the 26/11 case...they are likely to use the courts and other issues to continue in the manner that they are," said Rana Banerjee, Special Secretary (Retd), R&AW.
It is suspected that Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) was aware of Osama's hideout. But Banerjee is sceptical whether the fact that Osama was tracked down and killed in a garrison town will force the powerful spy agency to change its attitude. "It is also difficult to say whether the Pak-sponsored terror against India will change...Pakistan is more likely to see this as a one-off incident," the retired R&AW man said.
Meanwhile, Hafiz Saeed walks a free man and even holds rallies in Pakistan.