Union Home Minister P Chidambaram on Saturday accused Pakistan of deliberately holding back investigations into the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, emphasising that courts let off Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed because Pakistan failed to investigate leads and present evidence to the courts.
Chidambaram dismissed the Pakistani claim that Saeed was let off by the courts due to lack of evidence.
“The court can only be convinced if you present evidence to a court… The judge does not investigate. The judge weighs the evidence presented to the court. If no evidence is presented to the court, what will judge do?” he told Al Jazeera in an interview ahead of his US visit beginning Monday.
Chidambaram complained Islamabad was not even investigating the Mumbai attacks.
“We have shared complete evidence. The trial has not opened yet,” he said.
India has given six dossiers to Pakistan after the Mumbai attacks. The last one detailed the evidence to link Saeed to the attacks.
“The evidence we have presented tells any investigator, any prosecutor, what Hafiz Saeed did, where he was, who he met, what he told them (the attackers) and who is doing what. If that is not evidence to continue the investigation against Hafiz Saeed, what else is evidence?” he wondered.
Ex-Pak NSA retorts
{{/usCountry}}Ex-Pak NSA retorts
{{/usCountry}}Former Pakistan National Security Adviser Mahmud Ali Durrani ruled out Saeed’s involvement in the Mumbai attacks and suggested a joint Indo-Pak team to probe 26/11.
“India may have provided the dossiers but to the best of my knowledge there is zero proof of Hafiz Saeed’s involvement in Mumbai terror attacks,” he said, delivering the inaugural RK Mishra memorial lecture in New Delhi on Saturday.