By IANS,
New Delhi: Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik has denied that Dawood Ibrahim was living in Pakistan and said that just “by marrying a lady in Pakistan does not give a certificate that he is in the country”.
“I think marrying a lady in Pakistan does not give a certificate that Dawood Ibrahim is in Pakistan. But if you have any information we will be happy to have a look into it,” Malik said in an exclusive interview with CNN-IBN’s deputy foreign editor Suhasini Haidar.
He added: “If we get hold of him naturally we will look into it. But as far as our information is concerned, he is not here.” Dawood Ibrahim is wanted for various crimes committed in India, including the 1993 serial bombings in Mumbai.
On the Samjhauta Express blast case, he said: “In Samjhauta blast, the charges were pressed against Pakistan but the investigation later showed it was wrong.
“Should I say that it was an Indian intelligence failure that it could not be detected earlier by India. What is important is the determination and what do you want to achieve. Pakistan has got resolve to act against terrorists.”
On the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack trial, he said: “I spoke to (P.) Chidambaram (Indian home minister) when he was here and also over phone. I have explained him the situation of voice samples. I’ve made a point today that under evidence Act here, and may be in India, the identification mark is thumb impression and not the voice sample.
“You can’t take the voice sample. The lower court has rejected the plea and now we have moved to High court. This shows our interest to give the voice sample.
“But I don’t want to use any extra judicial method. I assure Chidambaram and people of India that we are at it but we can’t go beyond the law. We will use every possible legal means to get it.
A total of 166 people were killed in the three-day terror siege by Pakistani militants in Mumbai in 2008. The attack was blamed on Pakistani terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba.
“I saw the charge sheet in the US in 26/11 trial. Just writing that name Iqbal, there may be so many Iqbals in India and Pakistan, it is important to find how he played a role. All those five names given to me by Chidambaram we are going to the process.
“We have given a detailed questionnaire to the India authorities and request them to respond to that. If we can arrest Lakhvi or others abetting that, then we don’t have any hesitation in arresting anybody by the names given to us. But we need detailed proper information.”