Senior Congress leaders also went to Pakistan with Vaidik: Report

Zee Media Bureau

New Delhi: In a report which could expose Congress` hypocrisy, it is reported that a few senior Congress leaders were also a part of the cross-border trip that journalist Ved Pratap Vaidik joined. The yoga guru Ramdev`s close aide`s meeting with 26/11 Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed in Pakistan has sparked off a major row, with the Congress seeking to pin down the Narendra Modi government by asking if he was sent as an emissary. However, a news daily has reported that not only were senior Congress leaders like former Union minister Salman Khurshid were part of the trip but also the visit was itself organised by an organisation that has senior Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar on its board of governors. The report adds that Khurshid had travelled to Pakistan "at the invitation of the Regional Peace Institute, Islamabad, for an Indo-Pak bilateral dialogue, a Track 2 initiative". It quoted Khurshid as saying their three-day trip had no other itinerary apart from the conference, while Vaidik opted to stay back in Pakistan for another two weeks. Vaidik met Saeed long after the others on the tour returned to India, Khurshid said. Notably, Congress leader Aiyar had himself appeared on a talk show with the JuD chief telecast in February 2012. Earlier in the day, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said the party was "curious" to know whether the meeting between Vaidik and the 26/11 mastermind was facilitated by the Indian embassy in Pakistan. He also described Vaidik as a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) man, which he said was a "known fact". Hafiz Saeed was the mastermind behind the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack, in which one Pakistani terrorist, Ajmal Amir Kasab, was caught alive. He was tried and executed later.