Hafiz Saeed Should be Prosecuted to Full Extent of Law: US To Pak

Statement comes days after Pakistan PM suggested that there was no case against the 26/11 Mumbai attack mastermind.

The US told Pakistan on 19 January that Islamabad must prosecute "terrorist" Hafiz Saeed. The statement comes a few days after the Pakistan Prime Minister suggested that there was no case against the 26/11 Mumbai attack mastermind.

"There is no case against Hafiz Saeed sahib in Pakistan. Only when there is a case can there be action," Pakistan PM Shahid Khaqan Abbasi told Geo TV in an interview earlier this week.

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Reacting strongly to Abbasi's comments, State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said: "We believe that he should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. He is listed by the UNSC 1267, the Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee for targeted sanctions due to his affiliation with Lashkar-e-Taiba, which is a designated foreign terror organisation. We have made our points and concerns to the Pakistani government very clear. We believe that this individual should be prosecuted".

Responding to a question about Abbasi's remarks, Nauert said the US had "certainly seen" the reports about his comment on Saeed.

We regard him as a terrorist, a part of a foreign terrorist organisation. He was the mastermind, we believe, of the 2008 Mumbai attacks which killed many people, including Americans as well.

Heather Nauert, US State Department spokesperson

Saeed, the chief of the Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD), was released from house arrest in Pakistan in November. The JuD is believed to be the front for the LeT, which is responsible for carrying out the Mumbai attack that killed 166 people. It was declared a foreign terrorist organisation by the US in June 2014.

Acknowledging that the US has had some challenging times with the government of Pakistan recently, Nauert said the Trump administration expected Pakistan to do a lot more to address terrorism issues.

That’s something that we’ve been very clear about all along. You know the news that we had that came out a couple weeks ago about our decision to withhold some of the security funding for Pakistan.

Nauert said the entire administration is on the same page on the issue of US-Pakistan relationship. Early this month, the US had suspended about $2 billion in security assistance to Pakistan, accusing it of not doing enough in the fight against terrorism.

In retaliation, Pakistan reportedly suspended military and intelligence co-operation with the US. The State Department said on 18 January that it has not received any formal information in this regard from Pakistan.

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