Pakistan misled India, never detained Saeed in 26\11 case: Shinde
NEW DELHI:
Pakistan had never detained or arrested the 26\11 mastermind and Laskar-e-Taiba (LeT) chief Hafiz Saeed in the Mumbai attack case as repeatedly claimed by the country at every bilateral forum. Saeed was, in fact, detained in connection with some old cases in which he was subsequently given clean chit by that country's courts.
It was revealed when Pakistan shared documents, including FIRs relating to Saeed's detention, with India during its interior minister Rehman Malik's visit to New Delhi last week. The papers show that Islamabad had clearly been spreading lie about Saeed's innocence in 26\11 saying the country has no "evidence" against him.
Nailing the Pakistan's lie, Union home minister Sushilkumar Shinde on Monday shared the relevant details in Rajya Sabha and said Pakistan's interior minister Rehman Malik appeared to have been "misinformed in the matter (of Hafiz Saeed)".
The documents shocked the Indian establishments when they got to know that Saeed was actually arrested in some old cases.
The papers showed how Islamabad had been virtually misleading New Delhi over Hafiz Saeed.
Giving his statement in the Upper House, Shinde said, "During my talks with him (Malik), he stated that if we desire, he will give us the FIRs and the judgments pertaining to the three occasions when Hafiz Saeed was arrested and let off by the courts. When we pursued this matter, they have given us papers pertaining to the detentions of Saeed in 2002 and 2009".
He further said, "From the papers given to us, it is clear that the detentions of Hafiz Saeed in the aforesaid cases were for other reasons and not for his role as a conspirator in the 26\11 Mumbai terror attacks".
The Indian home minister also mentioned how Malik had been telling New Delhi time and again that Pakistan had arrested Hafiz Saeed thrice and that on each occasion, he (Saeed) was let off by the courts for the lack of evidence.
"We had been given to understand by the interior minister of Pakistan that Hafiz Saeed had been arrested on the charges of being a part of the conspiracy for the 26\11 Mumbai terror attacks", said Shinde.
The Indian home minister's remarks clearly show that Islamabad had been telling clear lies to New Delhi over the issue. Officials here believed that it might have been done by Pakistan deliberately as Islamabad does not appear to take action against Saeed, who is a key figure in the country's ISI-LeT nexus for waging proxy war against India.
Pakistan misled India, never detained Hafiz Saeed in 26/11 case: Shinde - The Times of India
