The United States government did not announce any bounty for Jamaat-ud Dawa Chief Hafiz Saeed, suspect in the Mumbai terror attacks, American Ambassador to Pakistan Cameron Munter has said, blaming Pakistani media for "misreporting" the issue.
"The Pakistani media is very active and responsible but it misreported the issue of Hafiz Saeed. Though Hafiz Saeed is a suspected accused of the Mumbai terror attacks, the US government didn't place any bounty/head money for him," Munter was quoted by the Dawn newspaper as saying.
He said this while replying to various queries during a media talk after addressing the annual dinner of the American Business Forum in Lahore on Saturday.
He said the US reward for justice programme was based on the information received that could lead to arrest or conviction of any United Nations' declared terrorist (not specifically for Hafiz Saeed) of any country.
In the first week of April, Rewards for Justice website announced that information leading to the arrest or conviction of JuD chief Saeed, 61, shall be rewarded with up to $10 million.
Talking about the ongoing efforts to maintain peace in Afghanistan, the US envoy said a trilateral meeting of Pakistan, United States and Afghanistan was recently held in Islamabad in order to resolve the issue.
"Though the role of Pakistan and the US is to assist the process of dialogue to come to a solution to this issue, Afghanistan itself has to make a solution to this issue finally," he said.
While commenting about the present relations between Pakistan and the US, Munter admitted that there was a lack of trust in relations between the two countries.
"But, such mistrust can be overcome through holding dialogue, discussion and people-to-people contacts between the two countries," he said. Munter said the good future for Pakistan and America rested in trade and investment respectively.
