Islamabad:
Under pressure from India and the United States, Pakistan has finally taken some action against Hafiz Saeed, the man India says is the mastermind of 26/11. But the charges under which Saeed has been booked have nothing to do with the Mumbai attacks.
According to sources in the law enforcement agencies, officials of the Special Branch of Punjab Police filed FIRs against Saeed after getting a go-ahead from high-ups.
The Pakistan police have registered two cases against the Jamaat ud Dawa chief. This is the first time that cases have been filed against Saeed under the Anti-Terrorism Act.
The police have also registered a case against Saeed's close aide Abu Jandal under the Anti-Terrorism Act.
The charges include delivering anti-state sermons and collecting charity to fund terrorist activities. Saeed at a post-Iftaar gathering in Faisalabad on August 26-27 asked people to collect money for Jihaad. Hafiz Saeed can be jailed under these charges.
New Delhi has been saying that there is enough evidence against Hafiz Saeed to prosecute him for his role in 26/11.
The action against Hafiz Saeed could shift the Indo-Pak dynamics just ahead of the foreign secretary level talks later this month in New York, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. After that External Affairs Minister SM Krishna will meet his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mehmood Quereshi, also in New York.
On Thursday, US Ambassador to India Timothy J Roemer said Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Toiba posed a "regional and global" threat. Endorsing India's view that 26/11 terror mastermind Hafiz Saeed and five other suspects be brought to justice, he said, "I hope that in future the action on 26/11 includes people like Hafiz Saeed is taken. Recently he was put into an Interpol red flag list," Roemer said.
He said, "There are 5, probably 6, suspects currently being held in Islamabad for 26/11 attacks. It is extremely important that these blood-thirsty perpetrators be brought to justice and put behind bars, and receive sentences commensurate with their crimes against India, US and the world."
The US is expending personal treasure and resources to help dismantle infrastructure of terrorism in this region, he added.
In the 26/11 attacks, people of India suffered tremendous hardship and loss and devastation, the US Ambassador said.
In December 2008, Pakistani authorities banned the Jamaat-Ud-Dawa and Hafiz Saeed was put under house arrest. However, in June this year a Pakistani court released him. India has accused Pakistan of blocking the inquiry into the 26/11 Mumbai attacks and safeguarding Saeed
Just last week NDTV spoke to Home Minister P Chidambaram who said there was enough evidence to prove that Hafiz Saeed was behind the 26/11 attacks.