India Worried over Dropping of Cases against Saeed; Pak Disappointed with Reaction

India expressed on Monday its concerns over the dismissal of two cases against alleged mastermind of Mumbai terror attacks and JuD chief Hafiz Saeed. Pakistan, however, expressed disappointment over India’s reaction.

External Affairs Minister SM Krishna said that he would ‘take up’ the issue with Paksitan after Lahore High Court dropped charges against Saeed.

Saeed has always denied any involvement in the Mumbai attacks, while India has always said that it wants Saeed questioned about his ‘role’ in last November’s violence.

Krishna said that India had provided Pakistan with ‘evidence’ that Saeed was behind the attacks.

“We will take up the matter with Pakistan government,” Krishna was quoted as saying by the PTI.

“As far as my knowledge goes, (Saeed) was not probed by the Pakistan government for his role in the attack on Mumbai, though we still insist that the Pakistan government investigate him for the role he played,” he added.

Later, Pakistan expressed disappointment over India’s reaction to the Lahore High Court’s decision, saying that questioning decisions made by the country’s independent judiciary was ‘not a wise step’.

Talking to state-run PTV, Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit said that India has acknowledged that the quashing of cases against the JuD chief by the High Court has ‘no link with the Mumbai attacks’.

‘These are totally different cases,’ he added.

Pakistan’s judiciary, like the judiciary in other democratic nations, is totally independent, said Basit.

India’s move to question the decisions made by the independent judiciary of Pakistan is ‘not a wise s