Don’t want window dressing: US on Hafiz Saeed’s arrest

TIL Desk/World/The Hague/ The Trump Administration Friday expressed doubts over Pakistan’s intentions in arresting terrorist Hafiz Muhammed Saeed, the mastermind of the 2001 Indian Parliament attack and the 2008 Mumbai attack, saying his previous arrests made no difference either to his activities or that of his outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba.           

“We’ve seen this happen in the past. And we have been looking for sustained and concrete steps, not just window dressing,” a senior administration official told reporters Friday, ahead of Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s visit to the US next week.  Saeed, a UN-designated terrorist was arrested on Wednesday — the seventh times since December 2001 — when he was nabbed in the immediate aftermath of the terrorist attack on the Indian Parliament.         

“Let me reassure you, we are clear eyed about the history here. We’re under no illusions about the support that we could see from Pakistan’s military intelligence services to these groups. So we will look for concrete action,” the official said when asked about the actions that Pakistan has taken against terrorist group and if the US believes in them.