Former interior minister and Pakistan Peoples Party's central leader Rehman Malik holds India responsible for the Mumbai attacks. In a statement here on Sunday, he said the state of Pakistan had played no role in the incident. He said that the incident had been engineered to divert world attention from the violation of human rights in Kashmir.
In response to a statement made by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif on the incident, Malik said, "Such a statement implicating Pakistan amounts to backing UN resolution against Hafiz Saeed who was found 'not' involved in this attack". He called upon Nawaz Sharif to withdraw his statement that created a false impression about Pakistan's role. Malik also advised Sharif to take a briefing to mark difference between "state actors and non state actors".
The PPP leader, who held the portfolio during the 2008-13 PPP rule, said Nawaz Sharif's statement was totally different from the PPP's point of view on the subject. He recalled that the matter had also been discussed by the National Defence Council at a meeting chaired by the then prime minister and participated in by three services chiefs and other members of the cabinet. At the meeting, Malik said he had stated that "our non state actors have been used by Raw (the Indian intelligence agency)". Raw caught maps of this hotel attacks much before the incident took place. "It was RAW which facilitated the non state actors some (of which) were recruited from Pakistan. That is why India did not give access to Pak investigators despite numerous requests," he added.
He said he would demand even today that the Ansari brothers should be handed over to Pakistan. According to Malik, an honest DIG Karkrey who had exposed RAW and RSS in Sumjota Express before the Supreme Court of India was killed by India.
Rehman Malik said non state actors work for their own motives. He raised a question about Indian attitude towards the Ansari brothers, and asked why they had not been prosecuted by New Delhi despite the fact that they were fully involved in this whole terrorist operation as "facilitator on behalf of RAW".
About David Headly, Malik said, he was born in Pakistan but was launched by USA after giving him amnesty in a drug case and he worked in India as travel agent fully supported by RAW. He visited Pakistan five times "duly facilitated by RAW to culminate its sting operation". The former minister said Mumbai attack was an operation of RAW, duly supported by some western country to frame Pakistan.
Recalling the news conference he had addressed as interior minister on the subject, he said it based on "investigation of a high powered JIT" and a "factual national response" to India.