WASHINGTON: The US State Department has said that it does not want to dignify the remarks of what it referred to as an ‘avowed terrorist’ like Hafiz Saeed by commenting on it and asked Pakistan to take immediate action against all such individuals.

The unusually harsh statement reflects Washington’s frustration with Pakistan’s policy which, the United States claims, allows internationally designated terrorists like the Jamaatud Dawa (JuD) chief to move freely, addressing rallies and news conferences.

The United Nations and the US have tagged JuD as a terrorist organisation. In Pakistan, JuD has been placed on a list of groups whose activities are under watch.

At a news briefing on Wednesday afternoon, the department’s spokesman John Kirby also urged Pakistan to prosecute the perpetrators of the Mumbai terrorist attack.

“I’m not going to dignify the comments of an avowed terrorist one way or the other,” said Mr Kirby when a journalist asked him if he had seen Hafiz Saeed’s latest statement advising Pakistan to abandon the United States and improve its ties with India.

“We continue to urge Pakistan to take steps to shut down access to areas inside their borders to terrorists, to terrorist individuals and to terrorist groups,” he added.

Asked if the United States had anything concrete on the Mumbai attack, the US official said: “We continue to want to see the perpetrators of the Mumbai attack brought to justice.”

During recent parliamentary meetings, Pakistani lawmakers also asked why people like Hafiz Saeed were allowed to move freely in the country.

PPP Senator Aitzaz Ahsan argued that activities of non-state actors like Hafiz Saeed had served to isolate Pakistan and PML-N MNA Rana Mohammad Afzal admitted that during a recent visit to France he failed to defend Hafiz Saeed’s role in the Kashmir struggle.

Published in Dawn, October 14th, 2016