External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Thursday said the Indian High Commission in Pakistan was not aware of journalist Ved Pratap Vaidik's meeting with JuD chief Hafiz Saeed. She was making a brief statement in lok Sabha when Congress MPs made protests.
“We have received a report from the Indian High Commission in Pakistan. The High Commission has categorically stated that they did not know about this meeting and, therefore, question does not arise about the High Commission facilitating it,” Swaraj.The Minister said she had heard that Vaidik “told some news channels that the High Commission knew about the meeting. We had then sought a report from the High Commission”.
Swaraj said she had made it clear earlier too and “I am again saying with full responsibility that the Government had nothing to do with either the visit of Vaidik to Pakistan or his meeting with Saeed”.
Her statement came after the Congress and RJD members trooped into the Well, with Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge asking if the Ministers can make a statement on the matter outside Parliament or even in Rajya Sabha, “Why can't they do it here (lok Sabha)IJ” Kharge along with party colleagues had even stormed the Well for some time on the Vaidik issue.
Seeing Kharge's anger, Speaker Sumitra Mahajan wondered “what happened to Kharge ji today” and advised him to cool down.