India fumes, says Hafiz Saeed is a terrorist and will support 26/11 mastermind Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi

New Delhi:India has dismissed Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed's clean chit to Lashkar-e-Toiba leader Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi in the dastardly 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks in which 10 Pakistani terrorists killed at least 166 people and injured several others.

Reacting strongly to Saeed's statement, Union Minister Jitendra Singh said Saeed's comments have no bearing at all. "What Hafiz Saeed says doesn't have an impact on Government of India policies. I don't think we should ponder about such issues. There is absolute clarity in our stand," he said.

Expressing anger over Saeed's statements another Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said, "If Saeed doesn't give him a certificate to Lakhvi, then who will. Thieves become brothers."

Saeed on Monday said India is trying to put pressure on Pakistan through the United Nation and the United States to punish him for the November 2008 Mumbai attacks.

"India has no evidence against Lakhvi. Out of desperation it has contacted the United Nations and the US to pressure the Pakistani government to give punishment to Lakhvi. India and the UN have no right to intervene in the judicial system of Pakistan. India had never accepted the decisions of the Pakistani courts in the past," he said.

Lakhvi is "innocent" as there has been no evidence against him for his involvement in Mumbai attack case, the founder of LeT said.

Senior advocate and Nationalist Congress Party leader Majeed Memon also questioned Saeed's statements and said, "What is his importance? A culprit never accepts the crime. It is inconsequential, what is the value of the fellow who has committed a crime. The procedure in law has to be followed strictly in terms of law laid by the country."

Saeed's comments came after India took up Lakhvi's matter with the UN. India had written to the UN, expressing concern over Lakhvi's release from a Pakistani jail, noting it violates the provisions of the global body.

A United Nations Security Council (UNSC) committee had assured India that it will take up the issue of Lakhvi at its next meeting.