Author: Special Correspondent
Publication: The Hindu
Date: March 8, 2010
URL: http://www.hindu.com/2010/03/08/stories/2010030860990100.htm
India on Sunday asserted that the issue of
arrest of Hafiz Saeed, one of the masterminds of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks,
did figure prominently during the Foreign Secretary-level talks here on February
25.
New Delhi also expressed surprise over the
statement by Islamabad that the issue was not taken up at the parleys between
Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao and her Pakistan counterpart Salman Bashir.
"Saeed's activities including his recent
vitriolic and venomous statements aimed at fomenting further acts of terrorism
against India and the unhindered public space and freedom he enjoys in Pakistan
were raised strongly by India during the Foreign Secretary-level talks,''
an External Affairs Ministry spokesman said in a statement here.
Responding to a question on the statement
by Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, who claimed that India
never demanded the arrest of the Jamaat-ud-Dawah chief, the spokesman said
New Delhi had been demanding action since the barbaric and dastardly attacks.
A dossier containing a compilation of evidence
on the involvement of Hafiz Saeed in the terrorist attacks was handed over
to Pakistan on August 21 last year and his name featured prominently in yet
another dossier handed over to Mr. Bashir on February 25, the spokesman said.
