Union home minister Rajnath Singh will go ahead with his Pakistan visit for the Saarc home/interior ministers’ conference this week despite the threat by Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed to organise countrywide protest rallies.

Sources said that while Indian security agencies were in touch with their Pakistani counterparts for the minister’s visit, it was primarily the host country’s responsibility to provide foolproof security to visiting leaders. The Indian minister has Z-plus security cover provided by the NSG’s Black Cat commandos.

In a statement issued in Pakistan, Hafiz Saeed said: “I want to ask the Pakistani government, will it add insult to injury to the wounds of Kashmiris by welcoming Rajnath, who is responsible for the killings of innocent Kashmiris.”

He added: “If Singh comes to Islamabad on August 3, the JuD would hold countrywide protests to tell the world that Pakistani rulers might have compulsions to receive the Kashmiris’ killers but the people of Pakistan are siding with oppressed Kashmiris.”

Responding to questions about threats by the JuD chief, minister of state for home Kiren Rijiju said: “The Saarc meet is a multilateral one. There are some commitments. He is not going to give some message or have a separate meeting with the Pakistan home minister.”

He also accused the home minister of being “responsible for the killings of innocent Kashmiris”.

Hizbul Mujahideen supreme commander Syed Salahuddin has, meanwhile, urged Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif to immediately recall his ambassador from New Delhi and “suspend trade and diplomatic ties” with India following the unrest in the Kashmir Valley that has left 49 people dead after Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani’s killing. The Pakistani government should not have invited Mr Singh to the Saarc conference, he added.