New Delhi,
The cost of prosecuting Mumbai terror attacks mastermind and banned JuD head Hafiz Saeed is too high, says former ISI chief Asad Durrani.

“If you prosecute Saeed, the first reaction will be: it’s on India’s behalf, you’re hounding him, he’s innocent, etc. The political cost is big, now,” he says in a new book in which he features in conversation with former RAW chief AS Dulat and the two discuss issues related to India-Pakistan ties: the surgical strikes, Kulbhushan Jadhav, Nawaz Sharif, Kashmir and Burhan Wani.

Saeed carries a $10 million bounty for his role in terror activities. The JuD is believed to be the front organisation for the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba responsible for the Mumbai attacks.

Saeed was declared a global terrorist by the US and the UN after the Mumbai strikes and was put under house arrest in November 2008 but freed by a court some months later. “He was taken to the court though they had nothing (new) against him. It is still possible that he was detained to let the storm blow over. In six months, he could come out,” writes Durrani about Saeed’s detention.