The US on Saturday threatened Pakistan with \u201crepercussions for bilateral relations\u201d if Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) founder and Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed, who wasreleased from house arrest on Thursday midnight, was not immediately re-arrested and charged.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe United States strongly condemns the release of Lashkar-e-Tayyiba leader Hafiz Saeed from house arrest in Pakistan and calls for his immediate re-arrest and prosecution,\u201d the White House press secretary\u2019s office said in a statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cSaeed\u2019s release, after Pakistan\u2019s failure to prosecute or charge him, sends a deeply troubling message about Pakistan\u2019s commitment to combating international terrorism and belies Pakistani claims that it will not provide sanctuary for terrorists on its soil.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf Pakistan does not take action to lawfully detain Saeed and charge him for his crimes, its inaction will have repercussions for bilateral relations and for Pakistan\u2019s global reputation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Though the White House did not spell out the \u201crepercussions\u201d it could chose from among past suggestions and calls for either stripping Pakistan of its status as a non-NATO ally that come with certain military or financial benefits or declaring it a a state sponson of terrorism.<\/p>\n
The WH statement marked a significant escalation in the US\u2019s impatience with Pakistan \u2014 a major non-Nato ally. Islamabad has been on notice from the Donald Trump administration for months for its failure to act decisively against terrorists operating from its soil.<\/p>\n
The White House reminded Pakistan of that on Saturday. \u201cAs President Donald J Trump\u2019s South Asia policy makes clear, the United States seeks a constructive relationship with Pakistan, but expects decisive action against militant and terrorist groups on Pakistani soil that are a threat to the region.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe release of Saeed is a step in the wrong direction,\u201d the statement said. \u201cThe Pakistani government now has an opportunity to demonstrate its seriousness in confronting all forms of terrorism, without distinction, by arresting and charging Hafiz Saeed for his crimes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bilateral relations with Pakistan have been on a downward spiral for years, and repercussions for its continued inaction on counter-terrorism have take the form of cuts in aid and assistance tied to certain military cooperation and the rejection of its request for the subsidised sale of F-16 fighter jets.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The US on Saturday threatened Pakistan with \u201crepercussions for bilateral relations\u201d if Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) founder and Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed, who wasreleased from house arrest on Thursday midnight, was not immediately re-arrested and charged. \u201cThe United States strongly condemns the release of Lashkar-e-Tayyiba leader Hafiz Saeed from house arrest in Pakistan and calls for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11254,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[87],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11253","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11253","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11253"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11253\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11255,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11253\/revisions\/11255"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}