New Delhi, Sep 6 (Inditop.com) Home Minister P. Chidambaram Sunday said Pakistan is showing “unwillingness” to prosecute Hafiz Saeed, Lashkar-e-Taiba chief and the mastermind of the Mumbai terror attacks that left as many as 170 people dead last year.
“(While) covering up is a very strong word, there is for some strange reason (an)unwillingness to take investigation forward (by Pakistan),” Chidambaram told private news channel NDTV in an interview to be telecast Monday.
The home minister’s statement comes after Pakistan last week rebuffed the sixth and latest dossier as being a “rehash” of earlier information on Hafiz Saeed and which was deemed inadequate to start a prosecution.
Revealing details of what India had given in the dossiers, Chidambaram said: “We know when (lone surviving terrorist Ajmal Amir) Kasab first met Hafiz Saeed and where. We know what Hafiz Saeed told the trainees. We know at least a couple of places where the training took place and that Hafez visited those training camps”.
Further, India has also said Hafiz Saeed had also given the terrorists aliases as well as tested their skills.
“We know that he (Saeed) was accompanied by a person described as major general sahib. Hafiz Saeed told this person to set up 10 targets. Kasab fired at target number 4,” said Chidambaram.
He added that Saeed had also made the “farewell call” and also issued the “final instructions” to the 10 terrorists in the Mumbai attacks.
“So all this is known. Places, approximate dates, names, visits by Hafiz Saeed. On face of this evidence, how does a prosecutor say that I have no leads to investigation?” Chidambaram said.
On the identity of the ‘major general saheb’, Chidambaram said that it is not clear whether he was a serving or retired army officer.
To question whether it was just a nickname, he said: “Very unlikely. A major general should be a major general somewhere.”
When asked if Hafiz Saeed’s link to a person with connections to army refuted Pakistan’s claims that the Mumbai attack was by non-state actors, Chidambaram said that could only be revealed by further investigation.
“We have never ruled out state actors even though Pakistan has said that only non-state actors were involved. We have not accepted this distinction between state and non-state because both operated from Pakistani soil,” he said.
The Pakistani refusal, he added, was inexplicable in light of their assurances to “common friendly countries” and to the Indian Prime Minister that they will “spare no effort to prosecute the perpetrators of Mumbai attacks”.
“In that context, letting off Hafiz Saeed is unacceptable,” said the minister.
Accepting that India was losing patience, Chidambaram said: “After a point, it (sending dossiers) will be a charade. I just don’t want to give them any quarter that answers are not forthcoming and therefore investigation is not starting.”
