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ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Rehman Malik on Tuesday questioned on what basis the United States slapped a $10 million bounty on the founder of a Pakistani militant group, saying it had not been officially informed of the decision.
“We have not received any official communication in this regard,” Malik told the private Geo television.
The reward for Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, the founder of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terror group blamed for the 2008 Mumbai attacks, was announced by US Undersecretary of State Wendy Sherman in India on Monday.
“I cannot comment on it until there is official verification. Let us say that if it is confirmed, then we can ask them on what basis the bounty has been announced,” the minister said.
Saeed lives openly in Pakistan and has spent recent months making a number of high-profile appearances at demonstrations calling on the government not to reopen Nato supply lines to Afghanistan, which have been closed since November.
His most recent appearance was at a rally outside parliament in the Pakistani capital Islamabad on March 27.
The bounty could complicate recent efforts made by Pakistan and the United States towards repairing their fragile war on terror alliance, which nearly ruptured over US air strikes that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers on November 24.
