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The US government has put a US$ 10 million price on the head of Hafiz Saeed. Founder of the Lashar-e-Toiba, Saeed who now heads its so-called ‘charity wing’, the Jamaat –ud- Dawa, is believed to have masterminded the 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai. On the face of it, the US decision seems likely to hasten Saeed’s capture. After all, there is a reward for his arrest. The announcement has been met with much jubilation in India. However, it might be a bit premature to celebrate. Both the LeT and the Jamaat-ud-Dawa are listed by the US as foreign terrorist organisations. The LeT is banned in Pakistan too. India has provided ample evidence pointing to Saeed’s role in the 2008 terror attacks. If neither the ban on the LeT nor the evidence of his being the brain behind an attack that took the lives of 166 people has resulted in his arrest, why should the announcement of a bounty be more effective? Bounties are announced to provide people with material incentives to reveal the whereabouts of a wanted person. In Saeed’s case, it is not as though his location is not known. Saeed has been addressing public rallies in Pakistani cities. Pakistani ministers have been seen attending these rallies. His location is hardly a secret. It is not lack of information that has stood in the way of Saeed’s arrest but the lack of political will in Pakistan.
Saeed is a powerful man, with friends in high places in the Pakistan military as well as in the civilian government. It is this support that has helped him avoid arrest so far. The US needs to focus on getting Pakistan to dismantle the government-nurtured infrastructure of terror that allows Saeed to roam free, rather than announce bounties and bans that seem a bit like applying band-aid to deal with a problem as serious as a hemorrhage.
Understanding the US motivation in putting a price on Saeed’s head is important. It appears that Saeed has been leading massive anti-US demonstrations and opposing the opening of Nato supply lines to Afghanistan through Pakistan. Therefore the US decision is prompted more by concerns over its military operations in Afghanistan than the question of tackling Pakistan based anti-India terrorism. Thus it is likely that the US will go easy on Saeed once its wins the desired concessions from Islamabad. India must respond cautiously to the US announcement.