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Provide 'practicable evidence' against Hafiz Saeed, says Pakistan

June 29, 2011 11:51 IST

Pakistan has demanded actionable evidence from India against Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed. Pakistan can take action against the JuD chief if India provides practicable evidence against him, Interior minister Rehman Malik told Indian journalists in Islamabad.

He pointed out that Pakistan had arrested Lashkar-e-Tayiba commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi for his alleged involvement in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.

Action would also be initiated against other suspected persons such as Major Iqbal for their alleged involvement in the 26/11 attacks, if India furnishes more evidence against them, Malik added.

David Headley, a 48-year-old Pakistani American incarcerated in a Chicago jail for his role in the 26/11 carnage, had named 'Major Iqbal', an officer in Pakistan''s Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate, the main military intelligence agency.

"I have sent a collection of questions to Indian government with reference to Major Iqbal, but no reply has been received from the Indian side so far," Online News Network quoted Pakistan's interior minister, as saying.

The trials of five suspected Pakistanis arrested in connection with the Mumbai incident are pending, as evidence against them are being collected, Malik pointed out.

All the arrested persons had tried to be bailed out, but their bail pleas have been cancelled, he added.

India has long been demanding action against JuD, and has provided enormous evidence regarding its involvement in the 26/11 siege. Hafiz Saeed is considered the mastermind of the Mumbai attacks.

The attacks, which drew widespread condemnation across the world, began on 26 November 2008 and lasted until 29 November, killing at least 173 people and wounding at least 308.

Source: ANI