NEW DELHI: India on Thursday expressed concern over Pakistan-based terrorist Hafiz Saeed's threat that more attacks will be carried out after the cross-border terror attack on the Pathankot airbase last month.
“It should be a matter of grave concern to everyone that people like Hafiz Saeed and his associates continue to enjoy the freedom to indulge in their activities,” external affairs ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup said at a media briefing here.
Sarup's comments come after Saeed, chief of the banned Jamat-ud-Dawa (JuD), publicly praised the attack on the Indian Air Force base in Pathankot on January 2 that claimed the lives of seven Indian security personnel. Saeed warned that more such attacks would be carried out in the future.
Saying that Saeed was a globally designated international terrorist, Swarup said his claims that his various front organisations were carrying out charitable work were “not even a fig leaf”.
“In this context, I would also like to point out that in October, we had seen reports that the government of Pakistan had banned the coverage of some of these organisations, including the one to which Hafiz Saeed belongs, and that electronic coverage of their allies etc. would not be permitted,” the spokesman said.
“But we have seen now Hafiz Saeed making statement after statement and his rallies are being covered, so individuals and organisations concerned need to take their actions,” he added.
As for the foreign secretary-level talks between India and Pakistan that were thrown into jeopardy following the Pathankot attack, Swarup said that the foreign secretaries of the two countries were in touch with each other but were yet to find a mutually convenient date.
He also said that the National Security Advisors of the two countries were also in touch with each other.