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Only credible crackdown on Hafiz Saeed will prove Pakistan’s sincerity: India
Hafiz Saeed’s arrest has been long sought by both the Indian and American governments. The US has a standing $10 million reward for information leading to his arrest and conviction. Saeed has blamed the Pakistan government’s move on pressure from new US President Donald Trump’s administration.
India said on Tuesday only a credible crackdown on Mumbai attacks mastermind Hafiz Saeed will be proof of Pakistan’s sincerity, a day after Pakistan said it had detained the Lashkar-e-Taiba founder and four of his deputies.
Saeed’s arrest has been long sought by both the Indian and American governments. The US has a standing $10 million reward for information leading to his arrest and conviction. Saeed has blamed the Pakistan government’s move on pressure from new US President Donald Trump’s administration.
External affairs ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup said the government has seen reports on Pakistan interior ministry order placing the Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief under its watchlist and also the notification under which the foundation has been included in the second schedule of their anti-terror legislation under UN Security Council Resolution number 1267.
Read: Pressure from US, China may have led to LeT founder Hafiz Saeed’s house arrest
The JuD, listed as a terror outfit by the United Nations, is considered by the US and India to be a front for Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), the militant group blamed for the Mumbai attack.
“Exercises such as yesterday’s orders against Hafiz Saeed and others have been carried out by Pakistan in the past also. Only a credible crack down on the mastermind of the Mumbai terrorist attack and terrorist organisations involved in cross border terrorism would be proof of Pakistan’s sincerity,” Swarup said.
The spokesperson said India has long maintained that the UNSC 1267 provisions pertaining to listing and proscription of known terrorist entities and individuals must be effectively and sincerely enforced by all member states.
Read: How Pakistani newspapers reported Hafiz Saeed’s detention
“We have also consistently called for bringing known terrorists under the ambit of the 1267 sanctions,” he said.
Protests were planned in Pakistan’s major cities Tuesday after authorities detained the mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai attacks after years of pressure to act against his group.
Police took Saeed away from a mosque in Lahore late Monday and escorted him to his residence where they appear to be holding him under house arrest.
With inputs from agencies
