New Delhi: Backing Home Minister Rajnath Singh's statement that Lash-e-Toiba chief Hafiz Saeed supported the protests at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), which triggered a flood of protests, a Home Ministry spokesperson clarified on Sunday that his statement was based on inputs from "different security agencies".
“Statement of the Home Minister is based on the inputs available from different agencies," a Home Ministry spokesperson said without elaborating.
Earlier in the day, the Home Minister said in Allahabad that the event on JNU campus in Delhi against the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru had received "support" from Saeed, a statement that sparked a political row with opposition parties asking him to provide evidence.
Singh said the truth is that the Jawaharlal Nehru University event received support from Saeed, who is chief of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), needed to be understood by the nation.
"The incident (Afzal event) at JNU has received support from Hafiz Saeed. This is a truth that the nation needs to understand," Singh said, adding, "what has happened is very unfortunate."
JNU has been on the boil over the arrest of its students' union president Kanhaiya Kumar on sedition charges after some students organised a meet to mourn the hanging of parliament attack convict Afzal Guru and Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front co-founder Maqbool Bhat. Anti-India slogans were allegedly raised at the gathering.
Delhi Police registered a sedition case on Thursday and arrested Kanhaiya Kumar. He was sent to three days police custody on Friday although he denied raising the slogans.
(With Agency inputs)
