Amid BJP's demands that Kashmiri separatist leader Yasin Malik's passport be revoked for sharing dais with Hafiz Saeed, considered the 26/11 attack mastermind, External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid has said the home ministry will take appropriate steps on the matter.
"The home minister has already made a statement. The matter pertains to the home ministry. I'm sure they will take appropriate steps. When they do, they will inform us," Khurshid told Times Now news channel.
He said Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde Monday said he would apply his mind and have the matter looked into.
Malik, a Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) leader, was seen seated next to Saeed, chief of Jamaat-ud-Dawa, at a rally against execution of Afzal Guru, a convict in the Indian parliament attack case, in Islamabad in Pakistan Sunday.
Saeed is considered to have planned the Nov 26, 2008 Mumbai terror attacks in which 166 people were killed.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Rajnath Singh said the government should "seriously" take cognizance of Malik sharing the dais with Saeed.
"The government should seriously take cognizance of this. It's not a small issue. I expect this much from the government," Singh told reporters here.
BJP leader M. Venkaiah Naidu also criticised the government, saying Malik's passport should be revoked immediately.
BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said it was home ministry's mistake to allow Malik to go to Pakistan and the party would raise the issue on all forums.