Hafiz Saeed seeks ban on RSS, VHP

Urges international community to declare India “a state supporting terrorism on its soil”

In this Feb. 5, 2010 photo, Hafiz Saeed, the leader of a banned Islamic group Jamaat-ud-Dawa is surrounded by his supporters during an anti-Indian rally to show solidarity with Indian Kashmiris, in Lahore, Pakistan. Pakistan announced a ban on Jamaat-ud-Dawa _ sealing the group's offices, freezing assets and rounding up leaders _ amid international outrage after the 2008 siege of the Indian financial capital. But the group has scored a few wins in court against the government and is up and running again, exposing Islamabad's unwillingness to fully crack down on militants who target India, its longtime enemy. (AP Photo/K.M.Chaudary)

Jamat-ud-Da’wah (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed on Monday demanded a ban on organisations such as the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, and urged the international community to declare India “a state supporting terrorism on its soil” in view of Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde’s remarks on ‘Hindu terrorism.’

Initially, the mainstream media took only a perfunctory note of the statement, but by Monday evening it had become a subject for television discussions. On the other hand, the JuD has been trying to generate a discussion on ‘Hindu terrorism’ on social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook since Sunday afternoon. This was followed up on Monday with a press conference by Hafiz Saeed in Lahore.

‘Stand vindicated’

According to the JuD, Mr. Shinde’s statement vindicated its stance on ‘Hindu terrorism.’ “We have been saying this since long time, the Indian Minister dared to speak what was obvious,” JuD tweeted this afternoon soon after Hafiz Saeed briefed the media on the issue.

Describing Mr. Shinde’s statement as a “big breakthrough,” the JuD chief said India’s claim to being a secular country had been exposed. He also wanted to know if the U.S. would use its drones against “Hindu terror training camps” like it did in Pakistan; adding that if the world did not take notice then it would become clear that there was an international conspiracy against Islam.

Arrest of ‘spies’

The alleged arrest of two Indian spies from Lahore on Monday was also flagged by the JuD as more evidence of ‘Hindu terrorism.’ No details were available about these arrests and officials at the Indian High Commission said Pakistani authorities had not contacted them in the case.

Meanwhile, the JuD timeline on Twitter and Facebook pages were full of references to ‘Hindu terrorism’ and alleged photographs of such camps. This is not the first time the JuD has used voices from within India to cite its case. Just last week, the JuD flagged a tweet by Lt. Gen. (retd) H.S. Panag stating that “our strategy must focus on direct covert actions & exploiting the Pak fault lines i.e. Balochistan, FATA, Baltistan, Shias & economy.” Referring to this tweet posted soon after over 100 people were killed in blasts in Balochistan, JuD tweeted: “Behind the chaos — any doubts?”