ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Wednesday pressed India to provide “concrete evidence” against Hafiz Saeed, a man India claims was behind the 2008 attacks in Mumbai.
Pakistani authorities have put Saeed and four other leaders under house arrest in the city of Lahore on Monday in the wake of UN sanctions on Saeed’s Jamaat ud Dawa organisation.
India said it was not impressed by Saeed’s detention and insisted only a “credible crackdown” on terror outfits, including Saeed’s, will prove Pakistan’s sincerity, the Press Trust of India reported.
While reacting to the statement of the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, regarding the detention of Hafiz Saeed, Pakistan Interior Ministry said that Pakistan does not need any certification or endorsement from India over the recent actions it has taken in relation to Hafiz Saeed.
The Interior Ministry spokesperson said that as a matter of record the actions taken by the government of Pakistan have been carried out as per obligations vis-à-vis listing of Jamat u Dawa under UN Security Council Resolution 1267 in December, 2008.
He said that various actions that needed to be taken under the relevant resolution including arms embargo, travel ban and asset freeze were not carried out for some reasons by the previous governments. The spokesperson said that India has constantly been using Hafiz Saeed’s political activities as a tool to malign Pakistan.
“If indeed India is serious about its allegations, it should come up with concrete evidence against Hafiz Saeed, which is sustainable in court. Mere casting aspersions and leveling allegations without any corroborating evidence would not help the cause of peace in the region,” the spokesman said.
“The international community should take note and understand that Pakistan is a democratic society where judiciary takes free, independent and transparent decisions,” he said in a statement.
He further said that Pakistan is still looking for justification and explanation from India as to how all the accused involved in 2007 Samjhota Express bombing, where 68 Pakistani nationals lost their lives, have gone scot-free.
“The involvement of Indian Army officer Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Shrikant Purohit and Hindu extremist leaders like Swami Aseemanand of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh in the Samjhota Express terrorist incident is a matter of record and has been widely reported in the international press without any positive response from India,” the spokesman recalled.