Offer a reward for Saeed's capture; bring him to India for trial

India should declare Hafiz Saeed a proclaimed offender and offer a huge reward to anyone who could help in his capture, says B Raman

According to reports from Pakistan, Chaudhury Habib-ur-Rehman -- who constitutes the one-man Anti-Terrorism Special court trying seven members of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba for conspiring to carry out the 26/11 terrorist strikes in Mumbai -- has accepted the objections of the LeT conspirators to the admissibility of the report submitted by a Pakistani commission that had visited Mumbai in March to record the statements of some Indian witnesses.

The lawyers of the LeT conspirators had objected to the admissibility of the commission's report on the ground that the government of India did not allow the Pakistani lawyers assisting the commission to cross-examine the Indian witnesses.

The judge has accepted the contention of the LeT lawyers and declared the report of the commission as inadmissible in the pending case.

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However, he has kept open the possibility of admitting in evidence the report of any new commission that might be sent to Mumbai by the Pakistan government if its lawyers are allowed to cross-examine the witnesses by the government.

India's efforts to seek the co-operation of the Pakistan government for the effective prosecution of Pakistan-based conspirators, including LeT chief Hafeez Mohammad Saeed, have reached a dead end. It is futile to hope for any forward movement in this direction.

While India should continue to keep the spotlight on Pakistan to demonstrate to the international community its machinations to avoid action against the conspirators, it should at the same time unilaterally initiate other options against Saeed.

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It should have Saeed declared as a proclaimed and absconding offender in the case and offer a huge reward to anyone who could help in his capture and prosecution before the Mumbai court.

The reward should be made applicable to individuals as well as organisations, so that organisations of Baloch freedom fighters, Sindhi nationalists and Pakistani Shia fighters, who are interested in availing of the reward, could do so by helping in the capture of Saeed and bringing him to India for a trial.

Simultaneously, a special cell should be created in the Research and Analysis Wing for bringing Saeed to justice in India. 

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