RAWALPINDI: Founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jamaatud Dawa Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, for whom a bounty of $10 million was announced earlier this week by the US, told a press conference on Wednesday that he was ready to meet American officials whenever they wanted to meet him.
On their part, members of the Difa-i-Pakistan Council (DPC), of which Hafiz Saeed is a key leader, told the same press conference that they would launch a nationwide protest against the US decision and what they described as Pakistan’s silence on the matter on Friday.
They also said they would move the court if the authorities tried to detain Hafiz Saeed or hand him over to the US.
The press conference was organised in a hotel managed by the Pakistan Tourism Corporation Limited (PTDC) and located near Pakistan Army’s General Headquarters. Besides Saeed, prominent among those who were present on the occasion were DPC chief Maulana Samiul Haq, Gen (retd) Hameed Gul, Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, Liaquat Baloch and Tahir Ashrafi.
“If the United States wants to contact me, I am present, they can contact me. I am also ready to face any American court,” he told reporters.
Assailing what he called the US ignorance, he said there was no ground for initiating legal action against him and his aide Hafiz Abdul Rehman Makki as they were not wanted in any criminal case in the US.
Saeed said he had already been cleared by the Supreme Court of the charges levelled against him by the Indian authorities in the 2008 Mumbai attacks. “If needed, I will knock only at the door of the local judiciary.”
He said the DPC had written a letter to the federal government and the parliament and efforts were also under way to contact the US officials in Islamabad to convey its concerns to them. DPC chief Samiul Haq said if any Abbottabad-like operation was carried out to seize Saeed, the rightwing political parties and groups would launch unprecedented protests across the country.
He characterised the US decision as “meddling in the internal affairs of Pakistan”.
The DPC leaders urged the federal government and the parliament “to break their silence on the issue”. They said the Foreign Office should summon American Ambassador Cameron Munter and lodge a protest against the US decision.
They also said that President Asif Ali Zardari should cancel his planned visit to India because the US move was aimed at appeasing the neighbouring country.
They said the US could not stop the DPC from mounting protests against the supply of goods to Nato forces in Afghanistan but wanted to get the supply routes restored through strong-arms tactics.
On their part, members of the Difa-i-Pakistan Council (DPC), of which Hafiz Saeed is a key leader, told the same press conference that they would launch a nationwide protest against the US decision and what they described as Pakistan’s silence on the matter on Friday.
They also said they would move the court if the authorities tried to detain Hafiz Saeed or hand him over to the US.
The press conference was organised in a hotel managed by the Pakistan Tourism Corporation Limited (PTDC) and located near Pakistan Army’s General Headquarters. Besides Saeed, prominent among those who were present on the occasion were DPC chief Maulana Samiul Haq, Gen (retd) Hameed Gul, Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, Liaquat Baloch and Tahir Ashrafi.
“If the United States wants to contact me, I am present, they can contact me. I am also ready to face any American court,” he told reporters.
Assailing what he called the US ignorance, he said there was no ground for initiating legal action against him and his aide Hafiz Abdul Rehman Makki as they were not wanted in any criminal case in the US.
Saeed said he had already been cleared by the Supreme Court of the charges levelled against him by the Indian authorities in the 2008 Mumbai attacks. “If needed, I will knock only at the door of the local judiciary.”
He said the DPC had written a letter to the federal government and the parliament and efforts were also under way to contact the US officials in Islamabad to convey its concerns to them. DPC chief Samiul Haq said if any Abbottabad-like operation was carried out to seize Saeed, the rightwing political parties and groups would launch unprecedented protests across the country.
He characterised the US decision as “meddling in the internal affairs of Pakistan”.
The DPC leaders urged the federal government and the parliament “to break their silence on the issue”. They said the Foreign Office should summon American Ambassador Cameron Munter and lodge a protest against the US decision.
They also said that President Asif Ali Zardari should cancel his planned visit to India because the US move was aimed at appeasing the neighbouring country.
They said the US could not stop the DPC from mounting protests against the supply of goods to Nato forces in Afghanistan but wanted to get the supply routes restored through strong-arms tactics.
