Pakistan on Tuesday claimed that official records do not reveal the existence of a Pakistani national by name Ajmal Amir Iman, the lone terrorist captured during the Mumbai attacks, but promised to respond by Wednesday on his letter seeking legal assistance from it.
An examination of the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA), Pakistan's national database, had provided no records on any national named Ajmal Amir Iman alias Ajmal Kasab, Interior Ministry chief Rehman Malik told reporters.
"As far as Ajmal Kasab is concerned, NADRA authorities do not have any records of his," he said after a meeting with visiting Interpol chief Ronald K Noble in Islamabad.
"Pakistan's High Commission (in New Delhi) has received a letter said to be written by Kasab and we will get it examined by our experts. We will give a detailed response today or tomorrow," Malik said.
In the letter, a copy of which was sent to Malik yesterday by the Pakistan High Commission, Ajmal had detailed the circumstances of his arrest and sought legal assistance from the Pakistan government.
Malik claimed that the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), the banned terrorist group blamed for the Mumbai attacks, did not "exist now" and the government would decide on proscribing its front organisation Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) if investigations proved it was involved in terrorist activities.
{{/usCountry}}Malik claimed that the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), the banned terrorist group blamed for the Mumbai attacks, did not "exist now" and the government would decide on proscribing its front organisation Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) if investigations proved it was involved in terrorist activities.
{{/usCountry}}Pakistan had cracked down on JuD in accordance with a UN Security Council resolution which designated it as a terrorist group and its leaders had been detained and its offices closed, Malik said.
"Pakistan is a sovereign state. Whatever action we take, we will take in the interest of the country (and) we will not get dictation from anywhere," he said.