Zardari's move on terror aliases an eyewash?

Pakistani President Asif Ali ZardariAsif Ali Zardari's decision to amend the 1997 Anti Terror Act to prevent banned terror groups from operating under a

different guise is being viewed favourably by the international community but it is not likely to change things one bit on the ground for India.

Despite concerns raised by India and widespread coverage even in the international media about the activities of its new recruits, mostly men who earlier owed allegiance to either LeT or JuD, Falah-i-Insaniyat, it seems, will remain out of the ambit of whatever changes the country brings about in its anti-terror laws.

This was obvious when the law minister of Punjab, Rana Sanaullah Khan, told TOI on Tuesday that police in the state, from where Falah started and from where it draws most of its cadres, will not take action against any JuD member taking shelter in Falah if no criminal case was made out against him.

"What action can be taken against anyone who joins this organisation and involves himself in charity work. The police will act only if there is a criminal case against him or her," said Khan, adding that there was no real evidence to prove Falah was into anything other than charity.

Indian officials and security experts have maintained that Falah was only ostensibly into charity work in Swat where it is helping anti-Taliban war refugees. According to senior officials, Falah has received vast sums of money in its Bank of Punjab account in Lahore for its relief operations and most of it was funds earlier held by JuD. Former foreign secretary Shivshankar Menon even raised this issue with his Pakistani counterpart in talks before the NAM summit.

Khan, however, said the Punjab government had taken up the need for revamping Pakistan's "antiquated" anti-terror laws. "We want that the detention period for suspects held under these laws be extended beyond the present 90 days. This was the loophole which facilitated Hafiz Saeed's release and resulted in serious embarrassment for Pakistan internationally. We are also in touch with the federal government to change the Evidence Act and give precedence to electronic evidence over oral evidence," Khan said.

On the confusion over whether or not Saeed had been arrested after two cases were registered against him, Khan said Saeed had never been placed under any sort of arrest even though his movements were constantly being monitored by the cops. He also ruled out Saeed's arrest in the near future on the basis of the FIR registered against him for his recent speech in Faisalabad. "At the end of the day, it was merely a speech," he said.