 | « Back to article | Print this article |
The Jamaat-ud-Dawah on Monday claimed the acquittal by an Indian court of two suspects linked to the Mumbai attacks had shown that Indian authorities had 'no proof of Pakistan's involvement' in the 26/11 terrorist carnage.
"The acquittal of Fahim Ansari and Sabahuddin has shown the reality of Indian drama around the Mumbai attacks. It is evident that the Indian government has no proof of Pakistan's involvement in this case," JuD spokesman Yahya Mujahid said hours after the court in Mumbai convicted Ajmal Amir Kasab, the lone gunman arrested during the attacks.
Pakistani national Kasab, 22, was found guilty of murder and waging war against India for his role in the 60-hour siege that left 166 people dead.
Kasab was convicted on most of the 86 charges against him and faces the death penalty. However, the statement issued by the JuD spokesman made no mention of Kasab's conviction.
Mujahid claimed India had wanted to use the Mumbai attacks as a "propaganda tactic to defame Pakistan".
"India wants to divert attention from real issues like Kashmir and blocking (of) Pakistani rivers. In doing so, the verdict (of the Indian court) was given in an unusually expeditious manner," said Mujahid, a close aide of JuD chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, who is wanted by India for allegedly masterminding the Mumbai attacks.
Mujahid also claimed India had tried to "defame the Kashmiri freedom movement by unjustifiably" linking Hafiz Saeed and Lakhvi to the Mumbai attacks.
He contended that when the Mumbai attacks happened, Saeed had categorically denied that he or JuD were involved in the incident. Even after Pakistan's Attorney General, the Advocate General of Punjab province and other law officials "put forth all the available evidence before the Lahore High Court, a full bench had "decided that all the accusations (against) Hafiz Saeed are baseless", Mujahid claimed.
Mujahid said India must stop blaming others and try to "tackle her internal problems instead of discrediting Pakistan or the genuine freedom movement of Kashmir".
The Pakistan government cracked down on the JuD and sealed its offices across the country after the group was declared a front for the Lashker-e-Tayiba by the UN Security Council in the wake of the Mumbai attacks in November 2008.
Saeed, also the founder of the LeT, was placed under house arrest but was freed on the orders of the Lahore High Court after about six months of detention.
During hearings in the Lahore High Court, the federal government acknowledged that it had never formally banned the JuD.
In recent months, Saeed has stepped up his tirade against India and called on supporters to wage a jehad or holy war for the "liberation" of the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir.