New Delhi, October 01: Taking a dig at Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi’s remark of a “half-baked” case against JuD chief Hafiz Saeed, Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram said it was in Pakistan’s hands to “bake the case”.
“If it is half-baked, Pakistan is welcome to bake it fully. All the baking ingredients are in Pakistan. The entire evidence is on Pakistani soil. They are most welcome to bake it fully and take it to court. All the evidence on Indian soil has been shared with Pakistan. The remaining evidence is on Pakistani soil,” Chidambaram said at a press conference in New Delhi on Wednesday.
Chidambaram also indicated that there was progress towards initiating talks with Kashmiri separatist groups. “At this stage I am not willing to share it in great detail but I will only tell you – Yes, there is some progress,” he said, responding to queries whether the home ministry was planning to resume the stalled talks with separatists including the Hurriyat Conference.
Sources in the MHA said back channel talks were already on in this regard to initiate a dialogue with the separatists.
On the security front, Chidambaram said he wanted to replicate the US National Counter Terrorism Centre in India. “During my visit to the US between September 8-11, my objectives were to engage the US administration on the need to share intelligence, to access technology, to learn from their experiences on megacity policing, and to visit the National Counter Terrorism Centre that I hope to replicate in India,” he said. The MHA will expand the Multi-Agency Centre in the Intelligence Bureau (IB) for this purpose.
Chidambaram also said the MHA had sought a report from the Left Front government in West Bengal over Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee’s allegations of state-sponsored terrorism.
“She has complained that her cadre was at the receiving end. We have sought a report from the state government,” Chidambaram said.
–Agencies