Mohammed Hafiz Saeed, founder of the Lashkar-i-Toiba
The usual Pakistani style show, of strong mediatic impact and no practical effect. Mohammed Hafiz Saeed, founder of the Lashkar-i-Toiba and Jamaat-u-Dawa has already been arrested a couple of times: in the aftermath of the attack in Mumbai in 2008 and again in 2009. It has always been released almost immediately because `has never committed any crime on Pakistani soil`. He, who calls himself a 'social worker', circulates undisturbed for the country despite over his head hangs a ransom of ten million dollars issued by CIA for 'information leading to his arrest'. The house arrest are so serious that immediately after Hafiz Saeed has held a press conference in which he accused the Trump-Modi axis of his arrest and stated that `will continue to fight until Kashmir will not be freed`. The government declared that the arrest of Hafiz Saeed is 'in the national interest', and denied any pressure of Washington: or, at least, any new pressures, given that for several years now US press Pakistan to outlaw JuD. Until now, no any step has been taken in this direction. Mohammed Hafiz Saeed was arrested but, when it comes to JuD, police just removed from the roads of Lahore flags and posters of the organization: the good activists have meanwhile taken the streets of Pakistan, protesting the arrest of their head and extolling the jihad in Kashmir. On the other hand, it is worth remembering that the activities of the JuD are financed with a good slice of public money, and that the organization is the only one to have free access to 'bring aid' in the most remote areas (and segregated by the army to external aids) of the country. At the moment the Pakistan, which has a sigh of relief for not being included in the list of seven countries whose citizens have been denied entry in the USA, has a desperate need to show once again its 'goodwill' in pursuing even terrorists sponsored by the State.Francesca Marino