Rebranding of Pakistan terror outfits has been the modus operandi to circumvent the United Nations restrictions or bans imposed on them. Prime Minister Narendra Modi to some extent was successful last year in getting Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) members to make their strongest statement on terrorism but a consensus eluded India’s efforts to nail Pakistan-based terror groups. Building India’s case against Pakistan later at the plenary session of the BRICS summit in Goa, Modi had said “selective approaches to terrorist individuals and organisations” would not only be futile but also counter-productive. His comments came amid efforts to persuade China and Russia to join New Delhi’s campaign to diplomatically isolate Pakistan, which India blames for cross-border terror and unrest in Kashmir. After a year or so Hafiz Saeed headed Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) did not take much efforts to get it rebranded after UN declared it a militant organisation. The JuD chief and 38 others were also included in Pakistan’s Exit Control List, which bars them from leaving the country. Even the Islamic State, Jabat al-Nusra, the Syrian Islamist rebel group, another UN designated group, had rebranded itself as Jabhat Fatah al-Sham, but UN didn’t call for action against Pakistan-based terror groups such as the Jaish-e-Mohammed that India holds responsible for the Uri attack that left 19 Indian soldiers dead. The rebranding and renaming has been there whenever pressure is placed on Pakistan for its support to terror. The first step of such a move is to place the terror personalities under house arrest. If that does not work, they take them into custody. The group and Saeed were able to reinvent themselves under the banner of Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) and expand their operations into a vast charity network as well. Despite being sanctioned by the UN, the government has only kept the outfit under “observation” while its chief Saeed continues to headline events across the country delivering public speeches. Rebranding or getting new identity gives such terror organsiation the much needed lease to go further without any fear of sanction from world bodies. What Pakistan has done with JuD is on the expected lines with giving the much leverage on the surface as China’s stand on the JuD has made it emboldened as Pak knows China would be able to keep the pressure away for some time from the powerful countries.
