'We have evidence': Pakistan claims India was involved in blast outside Hafiz Saeed's residence in Lahore

Islamabad: Pakistan on Tuesday alleged that India was involved in a blast outside Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed's Jauhar Town residence in Lahore in June last year.

"Today, the matter that we are putting before you, we have evidence of India's involvement in it," Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah told reporters here, referring to the blast.

"We have decided to bring our stance before the world...," Sanaullah said while addressing a press conference along with the Punjab Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) Additional Inspector General Imran Mehmood.

The blast near the residence of Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed in Johar Town killed three people and injured 24 others in June 2021.

Sanaullah said that the Foreign Office would raise the issue of the alleged Indian involvement before the world because culprits involved in the attack were arrested with evidence. "There is clear evidence that it (India) is directly involved," he claimed.

He also alleged that India was supporting the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

"We also found out that close to a million dollars of terror financing was done through India to spread terrorism in Pakistan through different channels," the CTD chief claimed.

The 72-year-old radical cleric has been serving a jail sentence at the high-security Kot Lakhpat Jail in Lahore for his conviction in terror financing cases.

The blast had sparked rumors that Saeed was present in the house.

Saeed, an UN-designated terrorist on whom the US has placed a USD 10 million bounty on, has been convicted of 36 years imprisonment in five terror financing cases. His punishment is running concurrently.

Saeed-led JuD is the front organisation for the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) which is responsible for carrying out the 2008 Mumbai attack that killed 166 people, including six Americans.

The US Department of the Treasury has designated Saeed as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist. He was listed under the UN Security Council Resolution 1267 in December 2008.