New Delhi: While the government has distanced itself from journalist and Baba Ramdev aide Ved Pratap Vaidiki’s curious meeting with 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed, sources in RAW, India’s external intelligence agency, told this newspaper that “no meeting with Saeed can be conducted without the clearance of the ISI and the Pakistan Army”.
Also, speaking to Deccan Chronicle, senior Pakistani journalist Iftikhar Shirazi, who interviewed Mr Vaidik while he was in Pakistan, claimed that “for an outsider, it’s very difficult to meet Hafiz Saeed without proper clearance”.
He also revealed that Mr Vaidik had not visited Pakistan in his capacity as a journalist but as “chairman of Council for Indian Foreign Policy”. Claiming that the Indian high commission in Pakistan had hosted a reception “only for Vaidik”, Mr Shirazi “assumed that it was highly unlikely that the high commission was not aware of his (Vaidik’s) proposed meeting with Saeed and his movements in Lahore”.
