New Delhi, April 11 – Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday described the release of Mumbai attack mastermind Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi in Pakistan as an “unfortunate and disappointing” development and said such decisions affect mutual relations between the two countries.
“India wants talks with Pakistan but the present development (release of Lakhvi) is unfortunate and disappointing,” he told reporters on the sidelines of a function here. “Such decisions affect mutual relations between two countries,” he said.
He was reacting to the Lahore High Court’s judgement suspending the detention of 55-year-old Lakhvi under Maintenance of Public Order after the Pakistan government failed to present sensitive records against him in the court.
Asked about alliance partners PDP-BJP in Jammu and Kashmir speaking in different voices on composite townships for settlement of Kashmiri Pandits in the Valley, Singh said, “An agreement has been reached with Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed in this regard.”
He said Jammu and Kashmir government has initiated land acquisition process for their rehabilitation. On the killing of five undertrials, who were allegedly associated with SIMI and other radical groups, in police custody in Nalgonda district in Telangana, he evaded a direct reply, saying, the matter was a state subject.
-INDIA TODAY
