New Delhi: Even as Pakistan High Commissioner to India, Abdul Basit, called 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed a citizen who is “free to roam around” in the country, India on Monday said that the Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief is an “evil mastermind” of the Mumbai terror attack.
Shortly after Basit's statement, the Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said that despite the stand by Pakistan, India will continue to consider Hafiz as the evil mastermind of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks.
To us he is the evil mastermind of Mumbai attacks, one accused in an Indian court of killings on street of Mumbai: MEA on Hafiz Saeed
— ANI (@ANI_news) September 15, 2014
"Our views on Hafiz Saeed are very clear. To us, he is the evil mastermind of the attacks on Mumbai and one of the accused in an Indian court for killings on streets of Mumbai. We have repeatedly asked Pakistan that he should be apprehended and taken through normal judicial process.
"Alas! He has never been arrested on account of 26/11. Therefore.... He is only free because he is a Pakistani citizen," External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin said, the PTI reported.
The MEA further said that Saeed will continue to be an accused in the Indian court for his involvement in the Mumbai terror attack in which 166 people were killed.
The reaction by the Pakistan has come at a time when Indian Intelligence officials have warned of a possible terror attack in the country by Saeed.
India has since long been demanding the deportation of Saeed from Pakistan so that he can be tried for his involvement in the Mumbai attacks. However, Pakistan has refused to do so stating that there are no credible evidence relating his involvement in the attack.
The US has placed JuD, which is a frontal organization for terror group Laskar-e-Toiba (LeT), on the banned foreign terrorist organisation list.