(Adds quotes, details and background)
By Andrew Quinn
KOLKATA, India, May 7 (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton said on Monday that Pakistan had not taken
enough action against Hafiz Saeed, the Islamist blamed for
masterminding the 2008 attack by Pakistan-based gunmen on
Mumbai, India’s financial capital.
India has repeatedly called on Pakistan to bring Saeed to
justice, an issue that has stood in the way of rebuilding
relations between the nuclear-armed neighbours since the carnage
in Mumbai, where gunmen killed 166 people over three days.
India is furious that Pakistan has not detained Saeed since
it handed over evidence against him to Islamabad. On Clinton’s
authorisation, Washington has offered a reward of $10 million
for information leading to Saeed’s capture.
Saeed founded Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) in the 1990s, the
militant group whom India blames for the Mumbai attack. He
denies any wrongdoing and links to militants.
After the reward was announced, Saeed last month taunted the
United States by holding a news conference at a hotel just 40
minutes’ drive away from the U.S. embassy in Islamabad, calling
the bounty “laughable”.
“We’re well aware that there has not yet been the steps
taken by the Pakistani government to do what both India and the
United States have repeatedly requested them they do,” Clinton
told a town-hall meeting in the Indian city of Kolkata.
“And we’re going to keep pushing that point. So it’s a way
of raising the visibility and pointing out to those who are
associated with him that there is a cost for that,” she said.
Al QAEDA MASTERMIND IN PAKISTAN?
Although they are allies in the war on militancy, Islamabad
and Washington have fallen out over the past year due to a raft
of issues, notably American drone strikes on Pakistan from
Afghanistan and a unilateral U.S. raid that killed al Qaeda
leader Osama bin Laden in Pakistan.
The fact that bin Laden was hiding in a Pakistani garrison
town was seized upon by India as proof that Islamabad was
dragging its feet on cracking down on militants.
Clinton also said the United States believes al Qaeda leader
Ayman al-Zawahiri is somewhere in Pakistan. The Egyptian
Zawahiri was bin Laden’s lieutenant and the brains behind much
of al Qaeda’s strategy for many years.
She said Washington was “intent upon going after those who
are trying to keep al Qaeda operational and inspirational”, and
it was in Pakistan’s interest to pursue them too.
“It is in their interest, and it is in the interest of their
sovereignty, to go after terrorists who are operating on their
territory,” she said. “And you have to demonstrate that you’re
not going to cede authority or territory to terrorists.”
Ten Pakistani gunmen killed commuters, foreigners and some
of India’s wealthy business elite in the rampage in Mumbai,
which included attacks on two luxury hotels, a Jewish centre and
a train station.
“Our position on Hafiz Saeed is clear. We have an
independent and active judiciary. If anyone has proof against
him, they are welcome to take it to the courts,” Moazzam Ali
Khan, spokesman for Pakistan’s foreign ministry, told Reuters
when asked about Clinton’s comments.
Clinton is on a three-day visit to India where she will
press New Delhi to further cut its oil imports from
sanctions-hit Iran, and make the case for India to push a
stalled reform of opening its supermarket sector to foreign
chains. ID:nL4E8G601S]
(Reporting by Andrew Quinn; Additional reporting by Qasim
Nauman in ISLAMABAD; Writing by Matthias Williams; Editing by
John Chalmers and Jeremy Laurence)
