India reacts cautiously to reports of Hafiz Saeed's detention

India has long maintained that the UNSC 1267 provisions pertaining to listing and proscription of known terrorist entities and individuals must be effectively and sincerely enforced by all.

New Delhi, Jan 31: India on Tuesday reacted cautiously to the reports of detention of Mumbai attack mastermind and Jammat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed and four others under an anti-terrorism act by Pakistan.

External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Vikas Swarup said the government has seen reports on Pakistan Interior Ministry order placing the JuD and the Falah–e-Insaniyet Foundation under the watchlist and also the notification under which the foundation has been included in the second schedule of their anti-terror legislation under UN Security Council Resolution number 1267.

"We have also noted that Hafiz Saeed and four others have been placed under preventive detention. "Exercises such as yesterday's orders against Hafiz Saeed and others have been carried out by Pakistan in the past also. Only a credible crack down on the mastermind of the Mumbai terrorist attack and terrorist organisations involved in cross border terrorism would be proof of Pakistan's sincerity," Swarup said.

The Spokesperson further said India has long maintained that the UNSC 1267 provisions pertaining to listing and proscription of known terrorist entities and individuals must be effectively and sincerely enforced by all member states.

"We have also consistently called for bringing known terrorists under the ambit of the 1267 sanctions," he said. According to JuD activists, Saeed was at Masjid-e-Qudsia Chauburji in Lahore when police descended there to implement the order of detention issued by Punjab Province's Interior Ministry in pursuance to a directive from the Federal Interior Ministry on January 27.

PTI