Although Islamabad has played its infamous card of not being unware of the reality, that the US administration may debar Pakistani citizens too from entering America, the house arrest of the 26/11 mastermind Hafeez Saeed, along with fours others under the anti-terrorism act highlights the fact that the Pakistani administration is clearly under tremendous pressure after US president Donald Trump imposed a temporary halt on citizens of seven Muslim majority country from entering the country.
Hafeez Saeed, who is identified as a “philanthropist” on the other side of the boarder is the chief of Jammat-ud-Dawa, a front organisation of the terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba of which Saeed is a founder member.
The response from the Indian side in context to this event has been short and to the point. Drawing reference to previous futile house arrests that Saeed was subjected too, a government statement was released which implied that only a “credible crackdown” against the kingpin of the 2008 Mumbai attacks will prove Pakistan’s “sincerity”.
Analysing the situation, the political pundits are seeing the White House’s move of threatening Pakistan passport holders from entering the country is extremely significant in terms of Modi-Trump relationship as this decision will surely bring Trump closer to Narendra Modi who has always demanded strong actions against cross-border terrorism from his Pakistani counterpart.
