Insufficient evidence against Hafiz Saeed: Pakistan
By IANSSaturday, November 28, 2009
PORT OF SPAIN/NEW DELHI - Pakistan cannot prosecute Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) founder Hafiz Saeed, the alleged mastermind of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, as there is insufficient evidence against him, the country’s foreign minister said Saturday, even as he urged New Delhi to resume the sub-continental peace process.
On Hafiz Saeed, honestly, the evidence provided is inadequate, Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi told Indian TV news channel CNN-IBN on the sidelines of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting at the capital of Trinidad and Tobago, where he is leading the Pakistani delegation in the absence of Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani.
Qureshi also contested repeated Indian claims that Pakistan had failed to bring to justice those behind the Mumbai attacks.
On the contrary, I think Pakistan has made reasonable progress on the investigation. The trial has begun, they have been charge sheeted, they are under trial and we feel that we have collected sufficient against them to argue a genuine case for their conviction.
He accused India of being myopic when reminded of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s statement in Jammu and Kashmir that if Pakistan abjures violence New Delhi was ready to meet more than half way on talks.
I think we have to get out of the old mindset. We have to realise that there is a great opportunity coming our way. If you want to limit the dialogue that will not be acceptable to Pakistan. Let us sit and talk and talk as neighbours who have to co-exist.
We have to help each other. The challenge is too large. I think you (India) are being myopic. You are being narrow-minded. You have to look at the broader picture and the broader picture demands cooperation and not confrontation, Qureshi maintained.
In New Delhi, Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor reacted angrily to Qureshi’s comments, saying India cannot negotiate with Pakistan while having a gun pointed at its head.
According to Tharoor, there had to be adequate progress by Pakistan for India to return to the table. India had frozen the sub-continental peace process after the Nov 26-29, 2008 Mumbai carnage that claimed the lives of 166 people, including 26 foreigners.
“We know that there is gun pointed at your head, but you still got to talk to us. Will you first get the gun removed from our head, then we will talk to you happily,” Tharoor contended.
“If we can see some real action on the two things that we have been asking for in a year, we would be very happy to persuade the public and parliament that we need to engage in serious talks”.
On Saeed, Tharoor said that any evidence that had to be unearthed against him had to be done in Pakistan itself.
“Surely the evidence is available in their country, where the man has been conducting his nefarious activities. So, it seems to me that in saying that the evidence is not enough, the Pakistani government is essentially saying that its own investigative capabilities are not what they should be,” Tharoor contended.
