Indian High Commission not aware of Vaidik-Hafiz meeting: Sushma

The Indian High Commission in Pakistan was not aware of journalist Ved Pratap Vaidik's meeting with JuD chief Hafiz Sayeed and there was no question of facilitating it, External Affairs minister Sushma Swaraj told Lok Sabha, after the Congress demanded her response on Vaidik''s meeting with Sayeed.

The Indian High Commission in Pakistan was not aware of journalist Ved Pratap Vaidik’s meeting with Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed, external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj told Lok Sabha on Thursday.

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“We have received a report from the Indian High Commission (in Pakistan). The High Commission has categorically stated that they did not know about this meeting and, therefore, question does not arise about the High Commission facilitating it,” she said.

Making a brief statement after vociferous demands for it by opposition Congress and RJD, Swaraj said she had heard Vaidik had told some news channels that the High Commission knew about the meeting. “We had then sought a report from the High Commission,” she added.

Swaraj said she had made it clear earlier too and “I am again saying with full responsibility that the government had nothing to do with either the visit of Vaidik (to Pakistan) or his meeting with Saeed.”

Her statement came after Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge asked that if ministers can make a statement on the matter outside Parliament or even in Rajya Sabha, why can’t they do it here in Lok Sabha.