Hafiz Saeed trying to hide behind ballots: India

MEA spokesperson Gopal Baglay said he is an internationally designated terrorist

Amid reports in the Pakistani media that LeT leader Hafiz Saeed is planning to enter politics, India on Friday said that it is both ironical and disconcerting that a person who has traded in bullets is trying to hide behind ballots.

"It is both ironical and disconcerting to notice that such an individual is perhaps wanting to hide his blood-stained hands behind the ballot ink or the person who has traded in bullets to take human lives is trying to hide behind ballots," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Gopal Baglay said in his weekly media briefing here.

According to reports in the Pakistani media, Saeed, who is reportedly under house arrest, has changed the name of his organisation Jamat-ud-Dawah, claimed to be the charitable wing of the LeT, to Milli Muslim League Pakistan and is planning to approach the Election Commission of Pakistan to register his party.

Baglay said that Saeed is an internationally designated terrorist under the UN Resolution 1267 provisions and his organisation, whether it is called Lashkar-e-Taiba or Jamat-ud-Dawah, is one and the same.

"They have been carrying out terrorist activities not only against India but against others in the region and it has been a matter of concern not only for us but for the entire region and beyond," he said.

He said that though media reports suggest that Saeed is under house arrest in Pakistan, "it is very well known that his organisation and his other colleagues have enjoyed freedom in Pakistan to conduct terrorist activities against India and others".

"It is Pakistan's obligation obviously to make sure that such individuals and organisations are not able to enjoy any freedom to conduct terrorist activities and the international obligations which Pakistan has and the international sanctions on these individuals and organisations are enforced 100 per cent," Baglay stated.