Scribe meeting Hafiz Saeed: Congress accuses government of cover-up

NEW DELHI: Congress today accused the government of a "massive cover-up" on the issue of journalist Ved Prakash Vaidik meeting terror mastermind Hafiz Saeed in Pakistan.

However, Government rejected the charge, saying it has nothing to do with it.

Attacking the government, senior Congress leader Kamal Nath said, "It is very clear that the government is involved" in the meeting between journalist Ved Pratap Vaidik and Saeed.

"Indian High Commission knew about his visit. Our intelligence agencies must have been keeping track of the activities of Vaidik. It was definitely known...now it is massive-cover up by the government since they have been caught on a wrong foot," Nath told reporters outside Parliament.

Rejecting the charge, Minister of State in PMO Jitendra Singh said all the representatives of the government have already made it very clear that Vaidik was not a representative or messenger of the government.

"...The government has nothing to do with this entire episode," he said.

The issue had stalled Parliament yesterday. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had told Rajya Sabha that the government has nothing to do with either the visit or the meeting between Vaidik and Saeed. "It is a diplomatic misadventure of a private individual," he had said.

In Lok Sabha, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had said that government has nothing to do with a journalist meeting Saeed.

"Allegation that the government facilitated the journalist's meeting with Saeed is false and baseless," Swaraj had said.