NEW DELHI: It took some tough talking from the US State Department to get Pakistan to move against Hafeez Saeed, founder of the banned

terrorist organisation Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), whom India blames as the mastermind behind the 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai last year. India has repeatedly urged Pakistan to act against the perpetrators of 26/11, to little effect, and there has been increasing outrage in New Delhi at Islamabad’s

perceived lack of commitment to meet Indian concerns.

In what is being seen as a damage control exercise by Pakistan, shortly before the Indian and Pakistani foreign ministers are due to meet at New York next week, the Pakistani government filed two cases against Saeed on Thursday, although none of them accuses him of any involvement in the 26/11 Mumbai terror strikes. Saeed has been charged under Pakistan’s Anti-Terrorism Act, weeks after the Lahore High Court released him for lack of evidence. He has been charged for urging ‘Jihad’ against the state, but the police had not yet arrested Saeed.

India has taken Pakistan’s willingness (or not) to act against Saeed almost as a litmus test on which to base the future of the bilateral peace process, insisting that there was more than adequate evidence to charge the man and keep him behind bars. In fact, New Delhi sent a sixth dossier of information, specifically pertaining to Saeed’s culpability in the events of 26/11, based on its own investigations and those of the US investigating agencies.

Indian Home Minister P Chidambaram, a Harvard-educated lawyer, visited Washington last week and forcefully put the case against Saeed to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who, in turn, told Islamabad it needed to act against all the perpetrators of terrorist attacks against India, including Saeed, who now heads the Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD), also banned as a social service front for the LeT.

US Ambassador to India, Timothy J Roemer met Chidambaram at his office today, and reiterated his government’s strong support for Indian concerns on terror threats from Pakistan and the need for Islamabad to act against terrorists.

“I think that there are five, probably six suspects, being held at Islamabad. Their punishment is very important for the United States and for India,” Roemer said. “Going after Hafeez Saeed is very

important in dismantling the infrastructure of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) in that region. It is extremely important that these perpetrators be brought to justice and put

behind bars, and receive sentences commensurate with their crimes against India, the US and the world,” Roemer said after his

meeting.

In an earlier interaction, Roemer had said, “It is time to reflect on

the common enemy of the US

and India. We share concerns about LeT, Al-Qaeda and Taliban and the threat emanating from that part of the world and we are working closer and closer together as two great powers to take on a common enemy.