It was April 2012, I had gotten
done with the final exams, and together with my friends, was on my way to
Sheikhupura. On the main GT road, I saw few people protesting against something,
but this being a regular sight I ignored, and moved forward. After several
hours, I reached home and sat down with my father to watch News. Turns out that
the United States had announced a bounty on Hafiz Saeed which led to large
number of protests in Pakistan.
During the 1990′s, when Kashmiri freedom fighters were giving Indian forces a
tough time, and India responded to the freedom fight with guns, Hafiz Saeed
became a notorious celebrity in the Indian establishment. He was declared the
root cause of the entire freedom fight in Kashmir without any solid evidence.
Well! it is true that Hafiz Saeed aided the freedom fight in Kashmir and played
a role, but to what extent, is still debatable. Also, whether Hafiz Saeed is
actively involved in the freedom fight today is a question that needs further
scrutiny.
However, logic failed, and Hafiz Saeed became the symbol of hate in the Indian
Establishment. Since then from Mumbai attacks to attacks on Lok Sabha in India,
Hafiz Saeed has become the household name to be blamed for everything wrong in
India. India’s aggressive lobbying in the United States was fruitful and in
April 2012 during a high-level visit of US government official to India, a
bounty of $10 million US Dollars was placed on Hafiz Saeed to appease the Indian
security establishment.
How do people in Pakistan view Hafiz Saeed?
While he might not get that much respect in the urban centers, but in the rural
Pakistan, and towns he is considered a good Muslim, and a true humanitarian who
wants to see peace in Pakistan. His role in setting up schools, clinics, and
relief work to millions of people throughout the poverty stricken areas of
Pakistan has won him much love from the people. His organization Filah Insaniat
Foundation (FIF) is well known welfare organization in Pakistan that helped the
nation in natural disasters such as earthquake in Pakistan in 2005. It is known
that FIF is much efficient and quick in organizing relief work than the
government of Pakistan. A delegation from U.N also visited the office of FIF and
was impressed to see its work. Hafiz Saeed also run Jamaat -ud- Dawa, another
organization with an extensive network of relief activities throughout Pakistan,
although there are claims that Saeed uses JuD as a cover to wage war against
India, the charges haven’t been proved.
While India declares Hafiz Saeed as a terrorist, it’s unable to provide any
solid proof against him. Even the claim that Saeed is involved in extremist
activities in India is rejected by India’s own Interior Minister Sushil Kumar
Sindhe who, first time in January 2013, declared “existence of Hindu Terrorism
as well as the existence of Hindu terror camps on Indian soil, being run and
organized by the BJP and the RSS”.
As the PML (N) government tries to open up with India, it’s going to be very
interesting to see what will become of Hafiz Saeed. He and a few others like him
will become the bone of contention in peace talks between the two countries. I
think it will be useful for both the governments to sit down and strike a deal
on how to handle such loopholes in the overall Pak-Indian ties. But until that
isn’t done, Hafiz Saeed will remain to be a terrorist in India, and a
humanitarian in Pakistan.