Pakistan cannot take action against outlawed JuD chief Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, a key accused in the Mumbai attacks, on the basis of "hearsay" and needs more time to evaluate the veracity of information provided by India on him, interior minister Rehman Malik has said.
"India gave us the latest evidence (on Saeed) only 10 days back and we need a few days to evaluate its veracity and also whether it can take the test of our courts. We cannot operate on hearsay alone," Malik said in an interview to 'The News' daily.
However, officials in the Indian High Commission here said New Delhi's latest dossier, which calls on Islamabad to take action against Saeed for his role in masterminding the Mumbai attacks, was handed over on August 21. Since then, no further information has been provided by India, they said.
Asked about India's criticism on Pakistan government's handling of the issue of Saeed, Malik said: "We respect your courts, you respect ours."
He accused India of not cooperating in the probe into the Mumbai attacks, saying authorities in the neighbouring country had been "dragging their feet all along."
"Let's stop the blame game and play a fair game," he said.
Pakistan had made a request for information about the Mumbai incident on February 9 while India provided a response on June 20 and "that too in the Marathi language," Malik claimed.
The information provided by India was "partial and half-cooked," he said.
Malik claimed that there were other lapses on India's part, including the refusal to share information about the attack on the Samjhauta Express train in 2007.
"A friendly country, which is also close to India, had told us that one of the Mumbai terrorists was also involved in the (Samjhauta) incident," he claimed.
Replying to a question on prime minister Manmohan Singh's fears about another attack on India by Pakistan-based terror groups, Malik replied: "If India shared any (intelligence) it had in this regard with us, then Pakistan would get back with results within 72 hours."
Malik claimed there is "ample evidence" of alleged Indian involvement in fomenting trouble in Balochistan and other parts of Pakistan.
He also claimed that Pakistani authorities had apprehended 22 school teachers who were trained in a camp in Afghanistan and had returned to the country to "inculcate anti-Pakistan sentiments" among children.
