Experts said that there is no formal agreement between India and Pakistan for such type of extradition.
Team Clarion
NEW DELHI/ISLAMABAD – India has formally requested Pakistan to extradite Lashkar-e-Taiba chief and a key suspect in the 2008 Mumbai attacks, Hafiz Saeed, for trial in India, foreign ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi told reporters in a briefing on Friday.
“As you are aware, the person in question is wanted in numerous cases in India. He is also a UN-proscribed terrorist. In this regard, we have conveyed a request, along with relevant supporting documents, to the Government of Pakistan to extradite him to India to face trial in a particular case,” Bagchi said.
In the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, more than 160 people had lost their lives.
Questioned about the extradition request during her weekly press briefing in Islamabad, Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said: “This question is based on speculative reporting and we would not like to comment on speculative reports.”
Experts said that there is no formal agreement between India and Pakistan for such type of extradition.
Besides India, many other countries have also declared Saeed a terrorist. The US has also announced a reward of nearly $100 million for Saeed and his organisation.
Saeed has already been imprisoned in Pakistan in connection with terror funding cases.
Though his media presence has dwindled over the years, the past decade has seen Saeed in and out of the limelight owing to crackdowns by the government on Lashkar-i-Taiba and its charity wing, Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD), due to mounting international pressure.
According to the BBC, Saeed founded the LeT in the 1990s; when it was banned, the revival of Jamaat-ud-Dawa wal-Irshad — a much older organisation — was witnessed in 2002 when it was renamed Jamaat-ud-Dawa.
Though the JuD leader insists his organisation has worked for Islamic welfare, especially in the aftermath of natural disasters, the United States has maintained that the group is a front for militant activities. — With inputs from Agencies
