It was a simple thing, Vaidik on meeting Hafiz

Ved Pratap Vaidik

As a row erupted over his meeting with Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed, journalist Ved Pratap Vaidik, considered close to Baba Ramdev, on Monday rejected suggestions by Congress that he might have acted as government’s envoy, saying he was “nobody’s envoy but my own”.

“Journalists in Pakistan know me for decades. They made a gesture (about meeting Saeed) to me and I said alright I will meet him. It was no big deal for me. It was a simple thing.

For me it was like a normal meeting. I have been meeting the Maoists of Nepal, the Taliban of Afghanistan...,” he told reporters.

Ramdev defends Vaidik

Ramdev, meanwhile, came to Mr. Vaidik’s defence, saying he would have tried to effect a “change of heart” in the globally-designated terrorist.

“He is a senior journalist and if in any context he is meeting a particular person, then there must be a reason behind it,” he said.

Reports said Mr. Vaidik had met Saeed in Lahore on July 2 while touring Pakistan with a group of journalists and politicians invited by a peace research institute.