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This is an archive article published on June 3, 2009

Holbrooke backtracks on Saeed comment,calls it Pak’s internal matter

In a reversal of stand,Richard Holbrooke has commented that releasing Hafiz Saeed was ‘Pakistan's internal issue.’

US Special Envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke said on Wednesday that the Obama administration is “disturbed” by the release of JuD chief Hafiz Mohammed Saeed but,in a reversal of that stand,later commented that it was “Pakistan’s internal issue.”

Holbrooke,who arrived in Islamabad on Wednesday,expressed reservations over the release of Saeed,who is allegedly linked to the Mumbai terror attacks.

“His release has disturbed us all,” he told Geo News channel. Holbrooke said he would take up the matter of Saeed’s release with the Pakistan government.

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But,the US envoy reversed his stand hours later at a joint press conference with Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari and Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi,saying it was Islamabad’s “internal issue.”

“I don’t want to comment on the issue at this press conference. It is Pakistan’s internal issue. That’s all I can say,” he said,when asked to comment on the Saeed’s release. The Lahore High Court accepted Saeed’s petition challenging his detention in the wake of the Mumbai terror attacks and ordered his immediate release.

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