Hoping that the coming visit of Pakistan’s Interior Minister Rehman Malik would help India “achieve something,” Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde on Monday said he would press for the handing over of Lashkar-e-Taiba founder and mastermind of the Mumbai terror attacks, Hafiz Saeed, during a bilateral meeting.
“I have been telling him and still I will insist [on handing over Hafiz Saeed]... we have told them [Pakistan] openly, as well as through official communication… I am quite sure that when he comes here, I will discuss with him this issue,” Mr. Shinde told journalists here.
Mr. Malik will be in India on a three-day visit starting December 14 for operationalisation of the liberalised visa regime.
Mr. Shinde noted that in recent months he had raised the issue of Hafiz Saeed, as well as that of handing over of voice samples of the handlers of terrorists who carried out attacks in Mumbai, with Mr. Malik, on at least two meetings at international levels — on the sidelines of a SAARC inter-ministerial conference in Maldives and at the Interpol meet in Rome. “Here also (in India) I will mention it. There is nothing wrong (in it),” he added.
The Home Minister, however, refused to comment on the legal proceedings related to the 26/11 case going on in Pakistan.
“I can’t say I am satisfied. It is a legal matter. I can’t comment on legal matters,” he noted.
