There is a growing chorus for action against Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief and Lashkar mastermind Hafiz Saeed, with former Pakistan National Security Advisor (NSA) Mahmud Ali Durrani joining India in its demand that Saeed be punished.
Saeed, who was accused of being the mastermind of the Mumbai terror attacks, had recently been put under house arrest by Pakistan.
Durrani, who was addressing a 19th edition of the Asian Security Conference organised by the IDSA, a government think thank in New Delhi, ackowledged that the 26/11 attacks originated from Pakistan.
The attack had left more than 160 people dead, including foreigners. India holds Lashkar and its patron Saeed responsible for the attacks.
While Durrani accepted the terror strikes had originated from Pakistan, he maintained that Pakistan's ISI was not involved nor was it aware of any such plan.
"The terrorist attack in Mumbai carried out by a group based in Pakistan is a classic trans-border incident," he said.
"There have been sporadic terrorist attacks in Pakistan over the last few decades, but the well-organised and senseless terrorist attacks in Pakistan picked up after 9/11," he said. This was because of flow of Taliban out of Afghanistan and into Pakistan's tribal territories in the wake of the US-led bombings in Afghanistan.
Durrani said that he had told the US that they were free to go after the Haqqani network inside Pakistan. "We may have made some noise, but deep down we would be happy if they were eliminated by the US," he said.
