Nelson
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November 11, 2011
Pakistani Interior Minister
Rehman Malik [ Images ] has
claimed that India [ Images ] has
not provided any "credible
evidence" against 26/11
mastermind and LeT chief Hafiz
Saeed [ Images ]. Prasanna D
Zore reports.
While India and Pakistan seem to have
started a journey on their way to
"create history", one crucial issue,
among many others, that could
possibly stem this progress is the trial
of 26/11 terrorist Mohammed Ajmal
Kasab [ Images ] and Pakistan's
inability to take action against
Lashkar-e-Tayiba [ Images ] chief
Hafiz Saeed.
And the bone of contention here, in
bringing to justice the masterminds of
the ghastly terror attack in Mumbai [
Images ], is the obstinacy shown by
Pakistan in not taking substantive
action against LeT chief Saeed.
Indian Foreign Secretary Ranjan
Mathai reiterated India's stand that
they have given Pakistan enough
information that could give them leads
to take action against India's terrorist
number one, Saeed.
Interestingly, it is exactly this
contention of the Indian side that the
Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman
Malik is contending.
"The Indian side is giving us only
information and dossiers but no
'credible evidence,'" Malik told
rediff.com at the sidelines of the
inaugural session of the 17th SAARC
Summit in Addu city, Maldives [
Images ].
He defended the Pakistani position by
saying that even if the Pakistani
government arrests Hafiz Saeed, they
won't be able to prove his complicity in
Pakistani courts based on
"information" given by India.
"We have provided a great deal of
information to Pakistan which should
give enough leads to the Pakistani
authorities to be able to take the case
forward," India's foreign secretary said
during a press briefing responding to
rediff.com's question whether the two
sides have decided upon what could
possibly constitute "credible evidence"
for Pakistan.
Knowing fully well that an incarcerated
Kasab is no threat to the Pakistani
establishment, Malik, earlier in the
day, had admitted that Kasab was a
terrorist and must be sent to the
gallows.
"If the Pakistani interior minister
thinks that Kasab must be sent to the
gallows then he is saying this based on
the information we provided to them,"
Mathai said indicating that the
Pakistani side considers that proof
enough to send Kasab to the gallows.
Kasab's confessional statement, that
formed part of evidence in the Indian
courts that convicted Kasab, is among
other information that India gave
Pakistan to nail Kasab and his
mastermind Hafiz Saeed.
In fact, Malik had earlier stated that
the criminal procedure code and penal
codes in both India and Pakistan were
almost identical. This could, perhaps,
give some hope to the Indian side that
the information they handed over to
Pakistanis is enough for them to take
action against Saeed and LeT.
In this context the visit of the
Pakistani judicial commission to record
statements of 26/11's chief
investigating officer, metropolitan
magistrate who convicted Kasab on
various counts of IPC and the two
doctors who examined Kasab could
become crucial in a war of words and
semantics that Malik and the
Pakistanis have so deftly built into
their strategy to protect the Let chief.
Pakistani Interior Minister
Rehman Malik [ Images ] has
claimed that India [ Images ] has
not provided any "credible
evidence" against 26/11
mastermind and LeT chief Hafiz
Saeed [ Images ]. Prasanna D
Zore reports.
While India and Pakistan seem to have
started a journey on their way to
"create history", one crucial issue,
among many others, that could
possibly stem this progress is the trial
of 26/11 terrorist Mohammed Ajmal
Kasab [ Images ] and Pakistan's
inability to take action against
Lashkar-e-Tayiba [ Images ] chief
Hafiz Saeed.
And the bone of contention here, in
bringing to justice the masterminds of
the ghastly terror attack in Mumbai [
Images ], is the obstinacy shown by
Pakistan in not taking substantive
action against LeT chief Saeed.
Indian Foreign Secretary Ranjan
Mathai reiterated India's stand that
they have given Pakistan enough
information that could give them leads
to take action against India's terrorist
number one, Saeed.
Interestingly, it is exactly this
contention of the Indian side that the
Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman
Malik is contending.
"The Indian side is giving us only
information and dossiers but no
'credible evidence,'" Malik told
rediff.com at the sidelines of the
inaugural session of the 17th SAARC
Summit in Addu city, Maldives [
Images ].
He defended the Pakistani position by
saying that even if the Pakistani
government arrests Hafiz Saeed, they
won't be able to prove his complicity in
Pakistani courts based on
"information" given by India.
"We have provided a great deal of
information to Pakistan which should
give enough leads to the Pakistani
authorities to be able to take the case
forward," India's foreign secretary said
during a press briefing responding to
rediff.com's question whether the two
sides have decided upon what could
possibly constitute "credible evidence"
for Pakistan.
Knowing fully well that an incarcerated
Kasab is no threat to the Pakistani
establishment, Malik, earlier in the
day, had admitted that Kasab was a
terrorist and must be sent to the
gallows.
"If the Pakistani interior minister
thinks that Kasab must be sent to the
gallows then he is saying this based on
the information we provided to them,"
Mathai said indicating that the
Pakistani side considers that proof
enough to send Kasab to the gallows.
Kasab's confessional statement, that
formed part of evidence in the Indian
courts that convicted Kasab, is among
other information that India gave
Pakistan to nail Kasab and his
mastermind Hafiz Saeed.
In fact, Malik had earlier stated that
the criminal procedure code and penal
codes in both India and Pakistan were
almost identical. This could, perhaps,
give some hope to the Indian side that
the information they handed over to
Pakistanis is enough for them to take
action against Saeed and LeT.
In this context the visit of the
Pakistani judicial commission to record
statements of 26/11's chief
investigating officer, metropolitan
magistrate who convicted Kasab on
various counts of IPC and the two
doctors who examined Kasab could
become crucial in a war of words and
semantics that Malik and the
Pakistanis have so deftly built into
their strategy to protect the Let chief.