The government has said that all evidence on the alleged involvement of Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed is present with Pakistan even as he was put in Exit Control List by their government on Wednesday.

“The entire conspiracy in the Mumbai terror attack case was hatched in Pakistan. All the terrorists came from Pakistan. All the planning was done in Pakistan. All the support was rendered from Pakistan. So all the evidence to implicate the mastermind of the Mumbai terror attack is available in Pakistan … So the so-called concrete evidence that the Pakistani authorities is seeking is already available in Pakistan. All they need to find is the requisite political will,” said Foreign Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup.

Reacting to India’s initial comments on conducting “credible crackdown” on Saeed, the Pakistani Interior Ministry on Wednesday had asked India to come up with “concrete evidence” against him which can be proved in the courts.

Saeed and his associates were placed under house arrest on Monday in Lahore under the Anti-Terrorism Act of Pakistan for a period of 90 days. Subsequently, on Wednesday, he was put on ‘Exit Control List’. JuD is believed to be working as a front for the banned terrorist outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).

The Pakistan government has said that both JuD and its affiliate Falah–e-Insaniyet Foundation, were under a watch list since 2015.

In 2012, the then US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had put a $10 million bounty on his head for his role in the Mumbai terror attacks that took place in November 2008 in which 166 were killed, out of which six were American citizens.

Saeed was put under house arrest immediately after the attacks then but was released within six months for lack of evidence against him.

“A bilateral dialogue with Pakistan is only possible in an environment free of terror. Any credible steps by Pakistan in that direction will certainly help. We will go by what happens on the ground and not what is said,” Swarup added.

SAARC Summit still on tenterhooks?

India recently participated in the SAARC senior officials meeting in Kathmandu. It got concluded on February 2. However, it still remain uncertain whether a summit-level meeting will take place that got postponed last year in November due to rising tensions between India and Pakistan.

“We remain committed to the ideals of SAARC. Our objection was to the holding of the SAARC Summit in Islamabad at a time when one particular country is opposed to regional connectivity initiatives, is promoting cross-border terrorism, is interfering in domestic affairs of other countries. Not only us, all other countries all joined us in saying that the time was not conducive to hold the SAARC Summit in Islamabad,” Swarup said.

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