Pakistan’s lie on Lashkar-e-Tayyaba patron and Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed stands exposed as documents provided by Pakistan interior minister Rehman Malik to the Union home ministry clearly show Islamabad never detained or arrested Saeed in the 26/11 terror attack case.
During his just-concluded India visit, Mr Malik had turned down New Delhi’s request for action against Saeed, arguing there was lack of “credible evidence” against the 26/11 mastermind who had repeatedly been acquitted by the Pakistani courts. The fact that none of the three cases referred to by Mr Malik involved Saeed’s role in 26/11 has widened a trust deficit between the two nations on whether Islamabad is deliberately brushing aside New Delhi’s concerns under pressure from the ISI, top security officials said.
“For us, Saeed’s involvement in 26/11 can expose the Laskhar-ISI nexus. Saeed’s quitting LeT in 2001, months before Pak-istan imposed a ban on it, indicates there was a move to give him safe passage,” the officials remarked.
Nailing Pakistan’s lie, Union home minister Sushilkumar Shinde on Monday told Parliament that Mr Malik appeared to have been “misinformed in the matter of Hafiz Saeed”. “We had been given to understand by the interior minister of Pakistan that Mr Hafiz Saeed had been arrested on charges of being a part of the conspiracy for the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks,” he said, adding, “From the papers given to us, it is clear that the detentions of Saeed in these cases were for other reasons and not for his role as a conspirator in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.” he said.