Amidst a massive uproar by political parties over a Pakistani diplomat's admission about India's most wanted terrorist Dawood Ibrahim's presence his country, the Government on Saturday asserted that it will not rest till those responsible for 1993 Mumbai bomb blast were brought to justice.
However, the former Pakistan Foreign Secretary Shahryar Khan hastily retracted within hours of making the statement saying that it was based on what the Pakistani media has been saying. "We too have seen the reports which have been attributed to an official of the Pakistan Government. The 1993 Mumbai bomb blast dossier has never been closed by us. Therefore, now that we have received more information about it, we will not rest till those responsible of 1993 attack against our citizens in Mumbai are brought to justice wherever they are. We will continue to pursue this," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin said.
He was reacting to statement of Khan, who is Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's envoy for Track-II dialogue with India, in london on Friday acknowledging for the first time that Dawood had once lived in Pakistan. "Dawood was in Pakistan but I believe he was chased out of Pakistan. If he is in Pakistan, he should be hounded and arrested. We cannot allow such gangsters to operate from the country," Khan had said added that Dawood has been chased out of Pakistan and he may be now in UAE.
But later Khan made a U turn saying, "I do not know where Dawood Ibrahim lives. I am only reflecting what the Press has been saying, the Pakistani Press has been saying about the gentleman. The Ministry of Interior would have probably known but the Foreign Ministry does not. I have no idea whether he is in Pakistan, if he ever has been (there)," he said. Khan's earlier admission led to politicians, cutting across political spectrum, expressing dismay and resentment over Pakistan becoming a haven for terrorists and expressing doubt over its intentions of strengthening bilateral ties.
Some of the leaders felt that this could be a diversionary tactics of Islamabad to divert attention from recent killing of five Indian soldiers by Pak army in Poonch sector of Jammu and Kashmir.Congress spokesperson Meem Afzal said that Pakistan cannot be trusted, because earlier they were denying the presence of Dawood in their country. He also said that Islamabad may be trying to divert the attention from the loC issue.
BJP President Rajnath Singh said that it's good that Pakistan has accep ted that Dawood has been staying in its territory, but it is not enough. "They should do more to get justice for the 26/11 Mumbai attacks. If they are not ready to accept our demands then we should scale down our diplomatic tieswith Pakistan." BJP spokesperson Captain Abhimanyu Sindhu said Pakistan should be declared a 'terrorist state' while party General Secretary Rajiv Pratap Rudy said every issue of terrorism raised by Pakistan should be looked upon with suspicion.
"We cannot take a Pakistani leaders statement so seriously. When Pakistan had Osama Bin laden for almost ten years and America had no clue, there is no surprise that it can hide any person. If Pakistan had Dawood, why didn t they inform IndiaIJ I believe any issue that Pakistan raises over terrorism should be looked upon with suspicion," Rudy said.