Hafiz Saeed an international terrorist, responsible for terrorism against Pak's neighbours: MEA

New Delhi: In a sharp reaction, the Indian government on Monday said Mumbai attack mastermind and Jamaat-ud Dawah chief Hafiz Saeed is an international terrorist and needed to be brought to justice soon.

"Effective action mandated internationally against Hafiz Saeed and his terror outfit is a logical first step in bringing them to justice," Ministry of External Affairs official told PTI. 

"Saeed is an international terrorist, the mastermind of the Mumbai attack and responsible for unleashing a wave of terrorism against Pakistan's neighbours," the official said. 

Yesterday, Pakistan's Defence Minister Khawaja Asif asserted that "Saeed can pose a serious threat to the society". 

"Terrorism is not synonymous to any religion. Terrorists aren’t Christians or Muslims or Buddhists or Hindus. They are terrorists, they are criminals," Asif said while addressing the audience on Sunday.

Pakistan's Punjab government has included names of Saeed and one of his close aides, Qazi Kashif, in the fourth schedule of the Anti-terrorism Act (ATA). Three other men were also added to the list -- Abdullah Obaid from Faisalabad, and Zafar Iqbal and Abdur Rehman Abid from the Markaz-i-Taiba, Muridke.

Saeed and the four men added to the fourth schedule of the ATA were also placed under house arrest on January 30 in Lahore amid an angry uproar from his party and political allies.

The five men were identified by the Interior Ministry as "active members of the Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) and Falah-i-Insaniyat (FIF)," the report said.

The names of Saeed and 37 other JuD and FIF leaders had earlier also been placed on the Exit Control List (ECL), barring them from leaving the country.