India on Monday sharpened its attack on Pakistan for the delay in bringing 26/11 Mumbai perpetrators to justice. Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said he has asked Pakistan to hand over LeT founder Hafiz Saeed to India.
Shinde said he told Pakistan Interior Minister Rehman Malik during a brief interaction with him on the sidelines of a SAARC inter- ministerial conference in September this year in Maldives that Saeed was moving freely in Pakistan and he should be handed over to India.
“I have been telling him and still I will insist....We have told them openly as well as through official communication. I am quite sure that when he comes here I will discuss this issue with him,” Shinde said.
On the pending issue of obtaining voice samples of those who had been handling and directing the terrorists during the attacks Shinde said, “I had talked to him (Rehman Malik) on a number of occasions on the voice samples of handlers of 26/11 terrorists. We have requested them many times. Not only in Maldives but also at the Interpol conference in Rome. Here also I will mention it.”
However, Shinde refused to comment on the 26/11 trial in a special anti-terrorism court in Rawalpindi against LeT military commander Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi and six others accused in 26/11 Mumbai attacks saying the matter was subjudice.
“I can’t say I am satisfied. It is a legal matter. I can’t comment on legal matters,” Shinde said.
The NIA in December 2011 had filed a chargesheet against Saeed, David Coleman Headley, Tahawwur Rana and six others for planning and executing a terror strike on Indian soil. Saeed was arrested after India handed over the dossier revealing his links but he was released by the Pakistan Supreme Court in 2009.
Saeed, who planned and executed the 26/11 attacks, claimed that he was never involved with the attacks and his group does charity work in Pakistan.
However, New Delhi had accused Islamabad for not pursuing the case against him and granting him easy escape.