Pakistan PM Abbasi calls terrorist Hafiz Saeed 'Saab', says no case registered against him

Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Abbasi has referred to the 26/11 Mumbai attacks mastermind and Jamaat-ud -Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed as 'Sahab' and said there is no case registered against him.

Pakistan PM made the remarks during the course of an interview on Geo TV. 

Responding to a question about Saeed, he said, "There is no case registered against Saeed in Pakistan (Pakistan mein koi case Hafiz Saeed sahab ke khilaaf nahi hai). Action is taken when there is a case registered [against someone]."

Earlier in November, Abbasi had claimed that India has provided "no evidence" against Saeed on the basis of which he can be prosecuted.

The Pakistan premier further said that he does not think that there is a threat of war between the two nuclear-armed neigneighbors, adding, “We always said that the door for talks with India is open.”

The 'respect' shown to Saeed by Pakistan PM comes at a time when the US has suspended about $2 billion in security aid to Pakistan for failing to clamp down on the Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani Network terror groups and dismantle their safe havens.

The LeT founder, in his late 60s, who has a $10 million American bounty on his head for terror activities, was freed by Pakistan after being under house arrest for 297 days since January.

The fire-brand cleric was released a day ahead of the 9th anniversary of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks in which 166 people, including six Americans, were killed.

Saeed was individually designated by the UN under the Security Council Resolution 1267 in December 2008.