Report on Xi asking Pak to relocate Hafiz Saeed shocking, baseless: China

Saeed carries a USD 10 million American bounty for his role in terror activities. He is the mastermind behind the 2008 Mumbai terror attack in which 166 people, including six US nationals, were killed.

FILE PIC/AFP

Beijing: China on Thursday was baffled by a Indian newspaper report that said its President XI Jinping asked Pakistan to find ways to shift JuD chief and 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed to another country. The relocation to a West Asian country was in the wake of severe international pressure to act against Saeed who is supporting and running ancillary terror activities from the Pakistan soil especially against India. ALSO READ: Alibaba's UC News In India Applies Strong Filters To Snuff Out Adverse News About China The report was dismissed as shocking and baseless  by China this morning. According to the report, a close aide of Pakistan Prime Minister said that Xi made the suggestion to Shahid Khaqan Abbasi during their meeting on the sidelines of the Boao Forum in China last month. Reacting to it, Chinese Foriegn Ministry spokesperson's office today said the report that Xi has asked Abbasi to relocate the Pakistan-based Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief to a West Asian country was "shocking and baseless". "It is shocking and baseless that's all we can say," the official told news agency PTI in capital Beijing. Saeed who has been spewing venom against Indian principally in all his rallies has a USD 10 million American bounty riding on his head for his involvement in terror activities. According to PTI, the JuD is believed to be the front organisation for the Lashkar-e-Taiba(LeT) which is responsible for carrying out the Mumbai attack. It has been declared as a foreign terrorist organisation by the US in June 2014. The US Department of the Treasury has designated Saeed as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist, and the US, since 2012. He is currently campaigning for the Milli Muslim League, the political front of the JuD, keeping an eye on the crucial general elections in Pakistan later this year.