Islamabad /Chennai, Sept 21 (Inditop.com) India Monday demanded that alleged 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed be interrogated as all evidence against him was “on Pakistani soil”, after reports came in that the chief of the banned Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) has again been placed under house arrest in Lahore.
“Even if it is a face saving technique, I have no objection. My demand is that now that he has been arrested, he should be interrogated for his role in the 26/11 incidents,” Home Minister P. Chidambaram told reporters on the sidelines of a function where he launched the Chennai-Hazrat Nizamuddin Duronto Express.
Hafiz Saeed, chief of the outlawed Lashkar-e-Taiba which was re-formed as Jamaat-ud-Dawa group and banned too, has been put under house arrest with a posse of police personnel ringing his residence in Lahore, according to media reports.
Police in Faisalabad Thursday lodged two first information reports (FIRs) against Saeed for making a speech last month in which he called for jihad or holy war and appealed for funds for the Jamaat-ud-Dawa, an Islamic charity that India and the US suspect is a front for terror operations and is now banned by the UN.
“Evidence is in Pakistani soil. When Pakistan says give us evidence, evidence is not on Indian soil. All the evidence against Hafiz Saeed is on Pakistani soil,” the home minister said.
“Therefore, one must investigate in Pakistan and find the evidence in Pakistan.”
Chidambaram has been in the forefront of India’s campaign demanding that Pakistani authorities act on the body of evidence that New Delhi has passed on in the form of six dossiers against Saeed.
The home minister has, in fact, earlier gone public on the contents of the dossiers that were handed over to the Pakistani authorities and details of the LeT chief’s involvement in the Nov 26-29, 2008, attacks in Mumbai.
According to home ministry officials, the evidence presented details of what Saeed did, where he was, whom he met, what he told the 10 terrorists shipped out for Mumbai attacks and the responsibilities assigned to each of them.
“If that is not evidence to continue the investigation against Hafiz Saeed, what else is evidence?” Chidambaram had then queried.
The dossier also mentions how in December 2007 and January 2008 Saeed was at a place where the lone terrorist of the 26/11 attacks caught alive, Ajmal Kasab, and nine others were trained.
However, Pakistani authorities have claimed that the evidence provided by New Delhi against the JuD chief was not adequate for arresting or prosecuting him.
Even the US has been mounting pressure on Islamabad to act, and said in no uncertain terms that going after Saeed and dismantling the terror infrastructure in that region was extremely important for both the US and India.
“It is extremely important that these perpetrators be brought to justice and put behind bars, and receive sentences commensurate with their crimes against India, US and the world,” said US Ambassador to India Timothy J. Roemer.
Saeed has been charged under Pakistan’s Anti-Terrorism Act for making anti-state speeches but the fresh charges slapped on him have nothing to do with the 26/11 strikes. They are for using loud-speakers and making hate speeches.
National Security Adviser M.K. Narayanan also questioned the credibility of the FIRs Pakistan had filed against Saeed.
In an interview to a television channel, he said the FIRs did not add any credibility to Pakistan’s commitment to act.
“If you take the Saeed dossier that has been provided to Pakistan, I think we have marshalled what I would call grade-1 evidence. You have the evidence from three people, three human beings, three admitted terrorists – Kasab, Fahim Ansari, Soharabuddin – who talked of what Saeed had come [to] talk to them [about], what he had said.”