Lahore: The US Ambassador to Pakistan, Cameron Munter, on Sunday claimed that the US government never offered a bounty on JuD Chief Hafiz Saeed, a suspect in the Mumbai 26/11 attacks, and argued that the Pakistani media had misreported the issue.
"Pakistani media is very active and responsible but it misreported the issue of Hafiz Saeed. Though Hafiz Saeed is a suspected accused of the Mumbai terror attacks, the US government didn't place any bounty/head money for him," Munter was quoted by the Dawn newspaper as saying.
He said this while replying to various queries during a media talk after addressing the annual dinner of the American Business Forum (ABF) on Sunday.
He said the US reward for justice programme was based on the information received that could lead to arrest or conviction of any United Nations' declared terrorist (not specifically for Hafiz Saeed) of any country.
In the first week of April, Rewards for Justice website announced that information leading to the arrest or conviction of Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief Saeed, 61, shall be rewarded with upto USD 10 million.
Talking about the ongoing efforts to maintain peace in Afghanistan, the US envoy said a trilateral meeting of Pakistan, United States and Afghanistan was recently held in Islamabad in order to resolve the issue.
"Though the role of Pakistan and United States is to assist the process of dialogue to come to a solution to this issue, Afghanistan itself has to make a solution to this issue finally," he said.
While commenting about the present relations between Pakistan and the US, Munter admitted that there was a lack of trust in relations between the two countries. "But, such mistrust can be overcome through holding dialogue, discussion and people-to-people contacts between the two countries," he said.
Munter said the good future for Pakistan and America rested in trade and investment respectively.
(With additional information from PTI)
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