Islamabad: US Ambassador to Pakistan Cameron P Munter has blamed the Pakistani media for "misreporting the issue of Hafiz Saeed" and said the US government did not announce any bounty "specifically" for the Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief.
"Pakistani media is very active and responsible but it misreported the issue of Hafiz Saeed. Though Hafiz Saeed is a suspected accused of the Mumbai terror attacks, the US government didn't place any bounty/head money for him," the US diplomat said.
Munter was replying to media queries after addressing the annual dinner of the American Business Forum (ABF) at the Royal Palm Golf and Country Club here on Saturday.
He said the reward was based on information received that could lead to arrest or conviction of any UN declared terrorist (not specifically Hafiz Saeed) of any country, the Dawn newspaper reported on Sunday.
On Afghan peace efforts, the US envoy said a trilateral meeting of Pakistan, US and Afghanistan was recently held in Islamabad to discuss the situation.
"Though the role of Pakistan and US is to assist the process of dialogue, Afghanistan itself has to make a solution to this issue finally," he added.
Hafiz Saeed, founder of the Lashkar-e-Toiba militant group, is accused of masterminding the Mumbai terror attacks in 2008 that resulted in the deaths of 166 people.
IANS
First Published: Sunday, April 29, 2012, 15:20