The government has said Pakistan should take further stringent action on Mumbai terror mastermind Hafiz Saeed of banned terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) who was taken under house arrest by the Pakistani government on Monday.
“Exercises such as yesterday’s orders against Hafiz Saeed and others have been carried out by Pakistan in the past also. Only a credible crackdown on the mastermind of the Mumbai terrorist attack and terrorist organizations involved in cross border terrorism would be proof of Pakistan’s sincerity,” Vikas Swarup, Spokesperson, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), said here on Tuesday.
Saeed, who heads a so-called charity group Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) in Pakistan, has been placed under “preventive detention” along with four other members of the organisation in Lahore under the Anti-Terrorism Act of Pakistan.
The Pakistan government has said that both JuD and the Falah–e-Insaniyet Foundation, its affiliate, have been kept under a watchlist since 2015.
“India has long maintained that the United Nations Security Council 1267 provisions pertaining to listing and proscription of known terrorist entities and individuals must be effectively and sincerely enforced by all member states. We have also consistently called for bringing known terrorists under the ambit of the 1267 sanctions,” Swarup added.
Meanwhile, just before he was detained, Saeed told the media there the stance taken by the Pakistan government was a part of “international conspiracy aimed at sabotaging the Kashmir struggle”.
“It is Modi’s insistence and Trump’s instigation … the Pakistani government’s compromise. If they think that our detentions can push the Kashmir cause back, this will never happen. Our movement will continue until Kashmir is liberated,” Saeed told Associated Press news agency.
Saeed also has $10 million bounty on his head for his involvement in the Mumbai 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 Mumbai attacks but was released within six months for lack of evidence against him.