Tuesday, April 3, 2012

MY QUICK TAKE ON SUPPOSED US BOUNTY FOR SAYEED

B.RAMAN

It is important to carefully study the language of the notices issued by the US Justice Department announcing bounties of US $ 25 million for Ayman al-Zawahiri, the head of Al Qaeda, and US $ 10 million each for Mullah Mohammad Omar, the Amir of the Afghan Taliban, and Prof-Hafiz Mohammad Sayeed, the head of the Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JUD).

2.In the case of Zawahiri and Omar, the announcement says :" Wanted Zawahiri" and "Wanted: Omar". That means the reward is for anyone who will help in locating them and assist in their capture or elimination.

3.In the case of Sayeed, the announcement says:"Wanted information leading to the arrest and conviction of Sayeed." The reward has been announced in continuation of a Red Corner Notice issued by India through the Interpol for his arrest for prosecution in connection with the 26/11 terrorist strikes in Mumbai.

4.In the case of Zawahiri and Omar, the bounty is on their head. In the case of Sayeed, the bountry is not on his head. It is for information which would facilitate his arrest and conviction in the 26/11 terrorist strikes.

5.Pakistan has been claiming that India has not been able to provide any smoking gun evidence that could warrant the arrest and prosecution of Sayeed in connection with the 26/11 strikes. The US has announced a huge reward for anyone who will provide such information.

6.The question of the US undertaking an Abbottabad style operation to kill Sayeed does not arise.For that the US President has to record a finding that Sayeed poses a serious threat to US nationals and interests and authorise the CIA to undertake any operation against him even if that would involve his death.No such finding has been recorded by the US President in the case of Sayeed.

7. One should avoid unnecessary euphoria on the US announcement. ( 3-4-12)

( The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt of India. E-mail: seventyone2@gmail.com )

5 comments:

ambi said...

us is just tightening screws on pak army, if Pak doesnt open the NATO supply route soon. every one knows that hafeej sayeed is a loyal puppet of ISI, dancing to its tune. After FAI's arrest this is another big blow to ISI.

killing hafeej sayed wont serve the purpose. we ll be making a hero n martyr out of that actual zero, who failed in all his objectives set by ISI for him and has become net liability for ISI. These deobandis are bigger headache for Muslim countries then the non muslim countries. let pakistan deal with him. hafeej sayeed is eitherway losing his relevance in fastly changing dynamics of south ASIA.

nri2008 said...

Dear Ramanji

As rightly pointed by you in your tweets on twitter Government of India should target and neutralize evil Sayeed. But both BJP and Congress are cowards and we cannot expect them to take this action in Indian national interest sorry to say!

Regards

Ram

Singapore

Fence Sitter said...

kudos sir, for calling out on the bounty for what it actually is !

Unknown said...

This is just a ploy to pressurise Pakistan to open the NATO supply lines and also the timing is to mar Zardari trip to India. As long as JUD kills Indians physically and verbally kill the Jews and Americans it is OK with Americans.

JAGADISH SOMAN said...

Even if bounty was for Saeed hafeez head, it would not have mattered much.The probable way to kill terrorism is by weeding out the ideology.And, that starts with making people believe that Islam-ism and Terrorism are two different things.And,to make that possible Pakistan government has to be on the reformer's side.Therefore, these bounty rhetoric is not just useless and harmful but more that useless.