Pakistan has placed Hafiz Saeed, mastermind of 2008 Mumbai attacks, under house arrest.
New Delhi today blocked Pakistan's attempt to lay the responsibility for prosecuting Lashkar-e-Taiba chief Hafiz Saeed at India's doors, insisting that all the "concrete evidence" that Islamabad needs on his involvement in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks is in Pakistan.
"All the concrete evidence on Hafiz Saeed's involvement in 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks is in Pakistan," ministry of external affairs spokesperson Vikas Swarup said, brushing aside Pakistan's demand that New Delhi provide the evidence to prosecute the Jammat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief.
JuD is the front organisation of the terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba.
Minister of State in the PMO Jitendra Singh later said India has already provided available evidence to Pakistan at different levels and said it was risking its own security by continuing to be in "denial mode".
Over the last few days, Pakistan has placed Saeed, the mastermind of the 26/11 attacks that killed 166 people, under house arrest. It also added him to its Exit Control List that restricts travel of the notified persons. There are 37 others in this list, apart from Saeed.
Saeed linked the fresh round of restrictions to what he called a growing rapport between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump and the anxiety within the Pakistani establishment to be seen to be acting against terror groups.
But India wasn't impressed, and nudged Islamabad to do more.
New Delhi recalled that this wasn't the first time that the Saeed had been locked up and insisted that only a credible crackdown on the Lashkar chief would prove Islamabad's sincerity.
In response, Pakistan has not only demanded that India should come up with concrete evidence needed to make out a case against Saeed but went a step further. A Pakistani interior ministry spokesperson accused India of constantly using "Saeed's political activities" as a tool to malign Pakistan.
with PTI inputs