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Ajmal’s village sealed: Sharif

ISLAMABAD: In a potential embarrassment to the Zardari government, the former Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif, has revealed that Pakistani authorities have sealed a village in Pakistan’s Punjab province to which journalists traced the origins of Ajmal Amir ‘Kasab’, the lone surviving gunman in the Mumbai attacks, and are preventing the media from meeting his family.

The disclosure is bound to prompt questions in India and the international community if the Pakistan government was engaged in a “clean-up” of evidence after investigations by two Pakistani media outlets — Dawn newspaper and Geo Television — and T he Observer established that Ajmal belonged to Faridkot village in Okara district of Punjab.

President Asif Ali Zardari had said media exposes were not enough to prove the gunman’s links to Pakistan, and that India had to provide “real evidence.”

“It has been said that this Ajmal ‘Kasab’ belongs to Faridkot village. I have personally checked that the village and its surrounding areas have been cordoned off. His parents are not being allowed to meet anyone,” the Pakistan Muslim League (N) leader said in an interview to Geo Television on Thursday.

“Why, and for what has this been done? If he is not involved [in the Mumbai attacks], then he is not involved. People should be allowed to meet everyone in the village,” Mr. Sharif said.

“The media should be allowed to meet his parents, and let them say they have not seen him for two or three years,” he said, adding that “all this points to the fact that we too need to set our own house in order.”

The former premier said Pakistan “at this time, is presenting a picture of a failed state.”

Later, Mr. Sharif’s party clarified that the former premier’s remarks could not be construed as his acceptance that Ajmal was a Pakistani.

Meanwhile, the Lahore High Court has admitted a petition by a PPP activist against Geo TV for reporting Ajmal’s links to Faridkot. The petitioner said the report had “damaged” Pakistan’s image in the world.

PTI reports:

The Pakistan government said it was “unfortunate” that Mr. Sharif chose a “sensitive time” to launch an attack against it.

In New Delhi, Union Minister Kapil Sibal welcomed Mr. Sharif’s statement.

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