Pakistani (L) and Indian flags stand on a table during an Indian-Pakistan meeting on the Sir Creek region in New Delhi on June 18, 2012. Pakistan and India started two-day talks in New Delhi to resolve their maritime boundary dispute in the Sir Creek region. Sir Creek, which opens up into the Arabian Sea dividing the Kutch region of the Indian state of Gujarat with the Sindh province of Pakistan, is a 96-km strip of water that is disputed between India and Pakistan. AFP PHOTO / Prakash SINGH
A day after Pakistan said Hafiz Saeed, mastermind of 26/11 attacks in Mumbai, has been placed under house arrest, the government has said that more needs to be done by Islamabad if it wants to prove its commitment to fighting terrorism.
“Exercises such as yesterday’s orders against Hafiz Saeed and others have been carried out by Pakistan in the past also. Only a credible crack down on the mastermind of the Mumbai terrorist attack and terrorist organizations involved in cross border terrorism would be proof of Pakistan’s sincerity,” said a statement from the Ministry of External Affairs.
The detention of Saeed in Lahore late last night follows action by the US administration of President Donald Trump aimed at countries deemed linked to terrorism, and Pakistani officials have implied that the fear of similar action against Pakistan was a factor in the action against Saeed, who founded the deadly Lashkar-e-Taiba or LeT terror group that attacked Mumbai’s landmarks in 2008, leaving 166 people dead.
There has been no official comment yet from the Pakistani government.
Despite a $10 million award on offer from the US for information leading to his arrest, Saeed roams the streets of Pakistan and frequently makes anti-India speeches.
External Affairs ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup also tweeted the government’s statement on Saeed’s arrest, which pointed out that “exercises such as yesterday’s orders against Hafiz Saeed and others have been carried out by Pakistan in the past also.”
Hafiz Saeed is the chief of the Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD). The outfit is a front organization for the terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba, of which Saeed was one of the founders. He was placed under detention along with four others on Monday night, under an anti-terrorism act.