Saeed case: Pak disappointed over India's reaction

Pakistan on Tuesday expressed disappointment over India's reaction to the Lahore high court quashing cases registered under the anti-terror law against 26/11 mastermind and Lashkar-e-Tayiba founder Hafiz Saeed, saying that questioning decisions made by the country's independent judiciary was "not a wise step".

Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit told state-run Pakistan TV that India had acknowledged that the quashing of cases against the Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief by the high court has "no link with the Mumbai attacks".

"These are totally different cases," he added.

Pakistan's judiciary, like the judiciary in other democratic nations, is totally independent, said Basit.

India's move to question the decisions made by the independent judiciary of Pakistan is "not a wise step", he added.

The Lahore high court on Monday ordered authorities to quash two the first information reports registered against Saeed under the Anti-Terrorism Act for allegedly inciting people to wage jihad against the US, Israel and India, and for seeking funds for the JuD. The court issued its order after the assistant advocate general of Punjab province acknowledged that the JuD had not formally been banned under the Anti-Terrorism Act. India has criticised the move and reiterated its demand for action to be taken against Saeed, also the founder of the banned LeT.

India's External Affairs Minister S M Krishna had agreed with Pakistan's position that terrorism affected both countries and was a big challenge for the whole region.

"It is the need of the hour that all regional countries jointly create an atmosphere in which they can unitedly fight against terrorism," Basit said.

Islamabad has time and again suggested that the Joint Anti-Terrorism Mechanism between Pakistan and India needs to be activated so that both sides could fight terrorism, he said.

The time has come for both countries to move forward and avoid the "blame game and point scoring" so that they can effectively defeat this common enemy, Basit said. Responding to another question about "foreign intervention" in Balochistan province, he said Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi had made it clear that "there is no doubt that outside hands are involved in Balochistan".