FOR US A TERRORIST IS A TERRORIST NOT A POLITICIAN

The Trump administration is keeping a close watch on Pakistan. Once it linked the release of funds under various aids and other programmes, thanks to Trump’s insistence that it ceases to double-cross the US in Afghanistan, it was natural for it to follow up on its stated mission.



Having already put Pakistan on the watch list of the Financial Action Task Force, the US has now declared designated global terrorist, Hafiz Saeed’s newly-floated front organisations, the Milli Muslim League and the Tehreek-e-Azadi-e-Kashmir as terrorist groups.



These were offshoots of the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba, Saeed’s original outfit that masterminds the terrorist activities against India in Kashmir and elsewhere. The fact that the two newly-created front organisations of LeT enjoy the blessings of the Rawalpindi GHQ is beyond doubt. Indeed, these were created with the sole purpose of sullying the political/electoral process in Pakistan.



Given the ingrained hostility of the ISI against Nawaz Sharif’s Muslim League, encouraging Saeed to float a political party was meant to stymie the former prime minister’s efforts to bounce back in the coming polls. In fact, Sharif’s disqualification by the judiciary too seemed to be ill-motivated and enjoyed the support of the army. As a fresh election in Pakistan is due in the next few weeks, the denial of registration by the Election Commission to the political fronts of Saeed was a big blow, though the latter had challenged the decision in a court which was yet to pronounce in the matter.



The decision by the Trump administration to declare that the new Saeed outfits were in effect fronts of the banned LeT is set to discourage those who instigated him in the first place to plunge into the electoral politics. Saeed has been a key asset in the ISI arsenal and the latter keeps on devising ever new ways to bypass the global ban on him and his frontal activities. Successive governments have handled this terror-master with kid-gloves, putting him in house arrest following the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, but doing precious little to try him for the heinous crime despite India furnishing incontrovertible evidence. Now, under pressure from the Americans, and keen to get its hands on the billions in US aid, Pakistan has of late sought to pretend as if it was cracking down on the terror factories flourishing within its borders.



But the Americans, now, want to see the fruit of Pakistan’s cooperation in Afghanistan, insisting on its crackdown on the camps and sanctuaries of the Taliban which are engaged in torpedoing any chance of a peaceful resolution of the problem in the land-locked nation. Having rightly concluded that without getting Pakistan on board there can be no peace in Afghanistan, the Trump administration linked the continued aid flow to its demonstrable clampdown on the terrorist hubs within its boundaries.



The decision to ban the two offshoots of the LeT underlines the American determination not to be double-crossed yet again by Pakistan. The US cannot any longer afford to lower its guard against a perfidious ally. It should keep up the pressure.