Saeed was arrested on Monday and put under house arrest, fuelling speculation in the country as to why did the authorities crossed the Rubicon to lay hands on the powerful jihadist leader and mastermind of Mumbai terror attacks.
Dawn newspaper in its editorial said the move to arrest Saeed and four of his colleagues and place the Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) and the Falah-i-Insaniyat Foundation (FiF) on further terror watch list will be "closely watched both inside Pakistan and abroad".
It said, clearly Pakistan cannot win the fight against militancy and extremism until it adopts a zero-tolerance approach against all manifestations of the problem.
"And, just as clearly, notwithstanding the protestations of innocence by the JuD/FiF/LeT and the angry denunciations by their cadres of the government's action, Saeed and his associates have a great deal to answer for," it said.
Also Read
It said the various groups in the LeT umbrella network will likely try and hide behind ostensibly legal activities such as charitable operations and social welfare services.
"But if the strategic control of the various groups in the network and the financial linkages between them are unearthed and made public, the dismantling of the entire apparatus should become possible," it wrote.
"Already the JuD/FiF, like-minded groups and a sprawling national network of supporters have tried to cast the crackdown as an external agenda, of a government and state cravenly submitting to the diktat of outside powers, especially the US," it said.
But, a sweeping set of actions against all groups and emphatic public ownership of those actions by the military and political leadership would send a strong signal.
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content