Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed has slapped a Rs 100-million defamation notice on Pakistan Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif for calling him the "darling of the United States".
Asif, while speaking at the Asia Society forum in New York on Tuesday, acknowledged that Saeed, the Haqqanis and the lashkar-e-Taiba (leT) are "liabilities" for the country but it does not have the required "assets" to get rid of them. The Minister had also said that the US, which was putting pressure on Pakistan to tackle terrorist groups operating from its soil, once used to treat them as "darlings" just 20 to 30 years back.
Saeed's counsel A K Dogar sent the notice to the foreign minister on behalf of his client who heads the Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD), a front for the leT militant group that carried out the deadly 2008 Mumbai attack.
"Saeed is respected as a deeply religious and devout Muslim. Saeed has never been near the White House, not to speak of wined and dined," Dogar said in the notice. "It is shocking to know that the foreign minister of my country is accusing Hafiz Mohammad Saeed of taking wine. This is abusive language and can never be used about my client.
"He is a patriotic Islam-loving Muslim following the dictates of the Prophet. This is a defamatory statement punishable under Section 500 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) to five years imprisonment and with a fine," he said.