Author: Editorial
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: August 6, 2009
URL: http://www.dailypioneer.com/193989/Foolish-expectations.html
Pakistan won't punish Hafiz Saeed
In what can be best described as yet another
ploy by the Pakistani authorities to ensure that Hafiz Mohammad Saeed - chief
of the Jamaat-ud-Dawa'h, the front organisation for the Lashkar-e-Tayyeba
- remains a free man, the Supreme Court of Pakistan has indefinitely adjourned
the hearing of petitions challenging his release by the Lahore High Court
in June. The move comes in light of the resignation of the Advocate-General
of Punjab Province - one of the two petitioners in the case - who was forced
to hand in his papers following the Supreme Court verdict declaring the appointments
made by former Pakistan President, Gen Pervez Musharraf, unconstitutional
and, therefore, null and void. Gen Musharraf had reduced the minimum age for
the appointment of Pakistani judges from 45 to 40 years. Since that now stands
overturned, the Punjab Province Advocate-General, who is 42, would not qualify
to be a High Court judge, which is a pre-requisite for the post he holds.
In view of this, the Punjab Province Government sought time from the Pakistani
Supreme Court to appoint a new Advocate-General. It was then that the court
adjourned the hearing indefinitely. This is nothing but legal trickery and
goes to show how serious Pakistan is about bringing to justice the mastermind
behind the 26/11 attacks on Mumbai. That Hafiz Saeed doesn't have to stand
trial just because one of the prosecuting advocates appealing against his
release had to resign is absolutely ludicrous. Had there been the will, the
Advocate-General could have been suitably replaced and the case continued.
This is not the first time that Pakistan has
tried to bury Saeed's case under legal technicalities. In fact, every time
that Saeed has been arrested by the Pakistani authorities, he has been subsequently
let off due to one legal loophole or another. Case in point, Saeed was last
put under house arrest in December last year after the United Nations Security
Council proscribed the Jamaat-ud-Dawa'h as a front for the already banned
Lashkar-e-Tayyeba. But he was released last June by the Lahore High Court
on the specious plea that the UN resolution did not specifically ask for Saeed's
detention. Similarly, the process of appeal against the High Court order has
been mired in unnecessary confusion. On July 16, the Pakistani Supreme Court
adjourned the case for two weeks following a request by Pakistan's Federal
Government that it needed time to produce fresh evidence against Saeed. Then
the Punjab Province Government threatened to withdraw from the case saying
that Islamabad wasn't co-operating with it in the matter. All this is indicative
of the Pakistani establishment's connivance to keep Saeed a free man despite
overwhelming evidence against him, including that provided by India.
