'Nothing new' in Durrani's revelation on 26/11: Rijiju

Union Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju on Monday said there was "nothing new" in former Pakistan National Security Advisor (NSA) Mahmud Ali Durrani's public admission that a terrorist group from his country carried out the 2008 Mumbai attack.

"India's stand is very well known. There is nothing new in this revelation," Rijiju told reporters.

Earlier in the day, Durrani said the Mumbai terror attack was carried out by a terror outfit based in Pakistan and added that it was a "classic trans-border terrorist event".

"I hate to admit that the 26/11 Mumbai attack carried out by a terror group based in Pakistan on November 26, 2008, is a classic trans-border terrorist event," Durrani said at the 19th Asian Security Conference held at the Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA) here.

He was the National Security Advisor when 10 Pakistani terrorists sneaked into Mumbai by a fishing boat and committed mayhem over three days.

Durrani, however, insisted that the Pakistan government had no role in the mayhem masterminded by Lashkar-e-Taiba supremo Hafiz Saeed and operations commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, who got bail in 2016 after years of alleged sluggish trial in Pakistan.

Pakistan's failure to conclude the trial in the case has been one of the major strains in bilateral relations with India.

--IANS

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