India has lodged a strong protest with the Government of Pakistan against 26/11 Mumbai attacks mastermind Hafiz Saeed’s rally in Lahore on the occasion of the ‘Kashmir Solidarity Day’ on February 5, sources said on Friday.
A note verbale was sent by the Indian government registering its strong protest “at the continued use of Pakistan-controlled territory by extremist and terrorist elements to freely propagate and promote violence and terror against India”.
Sources said that the India government in its note verbale once again called upon the government of Pakistan to fulfil its international obligations and abide by its bilateral commitment to not allow any territory under its control to be used for terrorism against India, in any manner.
India has been pushing Pakistan to bring to justice the planners of the November 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.
Saeed, who is accused of having masterminded the attacks that killed 166 people, was placed on the terrorism blacklist by the United Nations under UN Security Council Resolution 1267 in December 2008.
The US too has designated him as a global terrorist and has announced a reward of USD 10 million for information leading to his arrest and conviction.
In October last year, the Imran Khan government had removed Hafiz Saeed-led Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) and Falah-i-Insaniyat Foundation (FIF) from the list of banned terror outfits in Pakistan as the presidential ordinance that prescribed them under a UN resolution lapsed.
According to the list updated on September 5 on Pakistan’s National Counter Terrorism Authority’s website, 66 organisations have been banned in Pakistan, but Hafiz Saeed’s JuD and FIF are not among them.
In February last year, Pakistan’s former president Mamnoon Hussain had promulgated an ordinance amending the country’s Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997 to declare JuD and FIF as banned terror outfits.
Saeed, who was under house arrest walked free on November 24, 2017, after the Pakistan government decided against detaining him further in any other case.