I have never met Kasab, claims JuD chief

Labeled as a terrorist by the United Nations Security Council, Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed on Thursday claimed that he had never met Ajmal Amir Iman alias Kasab, the lone surviving terrorist in the attack on Mumbai.

In a television interview, the founder of the JuD, the front organisation of the Laskar-e-Tayiba, said he had never met or seen Kasab.

His claims run contrary to those made by Kasab, who confessed that a group of ten terrorists who carried out the Mumbai massacre were given a 'motivational speech' by Saeed before embarking on their terror mission.

Trying to distance himself from the Mumbai carnage, Saeed told Geo News, "It is wrong to kill innocent people or carry out suicide attacks".

The remarks appear ironical as radical Islamic groups like Al Qaeda and LeT are the outfits responsible for carrying out suicide attacks in Afghanistan and other areas.

Saeed sought to dismiss JuD and LeT's role in Mumbai attacks as 'one-sided propaganda'.

The chief of the banned JuD also dismissed Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani's contention that all leaders of the LeT had joined the Jamaat.

"There is no member of the LeT in the Jamaat-ud-Dawah. I was never a leader of LeT and even the (Lahore) High Court ruled there was no evidence of my links to LeT," he claimed.