Neither India nor Pak had any knowledge of 'private citizens' Vaidik-Saeed meet: Basit

Pakistan's High Commissioner to India Abdul Basit on Friday said that his country's government had no knowledge of the meeting between senior Indian journalist Ved Pratap Vaidik with Jamaat-ud-Dawa leader and 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed.

"This was a meeting between two private citizens, our government was not aware nor was the Indian Government," Basit said at an interaction with Indian media at the Press Club of India here.

"Mr.Vaidik keeps visiting Pakistan,we were not in the loop about it. I assure you we did not know, being aware and facilitating a meet are two different things," he added.

Vaidik has openly accepted that he had met Hafiz Saeed and had said that he is ready to share all records of his meetings in Pakistan.

During his interview with Hafiz Saeed on July 2 he had given a statement about Kashmir that it should be made an independent country. The comment raised lot of controversy as to how can he talk about separating the state from the nation, on which he later clarified to ANI that he was talking about freedom to the people of Kashmir, not separation.

The government on Tuesday condemned journalist VedPratap Vaidik's meeting with LeT chief and Mumbai attacks accused HafizSaeed following uproar in Parliament . The government meanwhile has said that Vaidik went to Pakistan in his personal capacity and met Saeed also in his personal capacity.

A case of alleged sedition has been filed against senior journalist Ved Pratap Vaidik in Varanasi Court over his meeting with 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed. The case is set to be heard on July 25.