Ex-Pak NSA to India: Saeed has no role in 26/11

Mahmood Ali Durrani, who was sacked as Pakistan's National Security Advisor when he acknowledged Kasab's Pakistani nationality, has insisted that Jamaat-ud Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed had no role in the 26/11 terror strike and asked New Delhi not to "push" Islamabad.

Mahmood Ali Durrani, who was sacked as Pakistan's National Security Advisor when he acknowledged Ajmal Kasab's Pakistani nationality, has insisted that Jamaat-ud Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed had no role in the 26/11 terror strike and asked New Delhi not to "push" Islamabad.

HT Image

Maj Gen (retd) Durrani said India and Pakistan should set up a joint investigative team into Mumbai attack, rather than New Delhi sending "pieces of paper" (containing information on the attack).

He took objection to the statements by India that Pakistan is not doing enough on Mumbai attacks, particularly on Hafiz Saeed, saying New Delhi should be "understanding" instead of "pushing us" on it.

In an interview to PTI in New Delhi, he insisted that Pakistan was doing all it can to arrest and prosecute the perpetrators of Mumbai attack but it was not being acknowledged by India.

When referred to Hafiz Saeed who continues to be a free man despite India's assertion that "enough proof" has been given about his involvement in 26/11, Durrani claimed, "We have found no linkage and you have given us zero proof... Genuinely there is no evidence. Shall we arrest him without reason? Can you do it here?"

After the Mumbai attack, Durrani was the first Pakistani functionary to acknowledge Pakistan nationality of Ajmal Kasab, the lone terrorist arrested during the three-day assault, and soon after that statement, he was sacked on January 7.