Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has said that India provided “no evidence” of Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed’s alleged role in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks. If the accusations have substance, Saeed should be prosecuted internationally, he told Bloomberg in an interview published on Thursday.
The interview was held on November 24, the day Saeed was released from house arrest. A court had allowed Saeed’s detention to not be extended further, citing lack of evidence from the Pakistan government. He was under house arrest in Pakistan since January.
India and the United States have held Saeed responsible for the Mumbai attacks in November 2008 that left 165 people dead.
Saeed’s release was met with condemnation from the US and India. The US warned Pakistan of “repercussions” to their bilateral ties if Saeed was not re-arrested and “charged for his crimes”, and India called it an attempt to mainstream terrorists.
“The court, a three-judge bench, has released him saying there are no charges against him; the country has a law you know,” Abbasi said in the interview. “Prosecute him internationally if there is substance to these charges – these are accusations only.”
Abbasi also rejected the United States’ repeated accusations that Pakistan provides a safe haven to militant groups. He said attacks in the region were originating across the border in Afghanistan, and that Pakistan would act against terrorists who were found within its borders.
“There is no room for them [the US] to take a tough stance here, because Pakistan is the country which is fighting the war on terror,” Abbasi said. “Somebody gives us intelligence and we will act upon it. It is our war, not theirs.”
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