India on Sunday rubbished as “ridiculous” Pakistan Interior Minister Rehman Malik’s claim that Mumbai attack handler and Lashkar-e-Taiba operative Abu Jundal was an operative of a “very elite” Indian intelligence agency even as he stood by his remark.
“Such a statement is ridiculous. Jundal was working with the LeT in Pakistan’s soil when the Mumbai terror attack was carried out,” Home Secretary R.K. Singh told PTI in a strong reaction to Mr. Malik’s statement.
Referring to Jundal, who was present in a LeT control room during the 26/11 attack and was deported from Saudi Arabia recently, Mr. Malik said on Sunday that Jundal had confessed to being a known criminal, having been charged in many cases.
On Mr. Malik’s remark that Indian agencies could have prevented the carnage, the Home Ministry in a statement said the main issue was that the Mumbai attack was conceived and planned and directed from the soil of Pakistan.
Pakistan did not take any action against these terrorist elements when the plan was being conceived and put into effect, it said.
The Home Ministry also said even after the Mumbai terror attack when full facts were known to the world, Pakistan was hesitating to take action against key conspirators and key operatives.
