India has formally requested Pakistan to extradite Hafiz Saeed, suspected of involvement in the 2008 attacks on Mumbai, for trial in India, foreign ministry spokesperson, Arindam Bagchi told reporters in a briefing on Friday.
Pakistan, meanwhile, has acknowledged that India formally requested Hafiz Saeed’s extradition. Saeed is a radical Pakistani preacher who is thought to have been involved in terrorist strikes on Indian territory.
Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, a spokesperson for Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry, effectively rejected India’s proposal, claiming that the two countries lack a bilateral treaty to address such issues.
Baloch made the statement just hours after an Indian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman told a routine press conference that India has requested that Saeed be extradited to India for trial.
According to Baloch, New Delhi is seeking Saeed’s extradition in a “money laundering case.”
Report says Arindam Bagchi, spokesperson for India’s Foreign Ministry, would not discuss details of the request, saying only that the request was submitted “some weeks ago.”
“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.
Saeed is serving a prison term in Pakistan on terrorism financing charges. Last year, an anti-terrorism court found him guilty on multiple counts and sentenced him to 31 years.
Indian officials accuse the Pakistani cleric of masterminding the four-day Mumbai bloodshed and supporting militants battling security forces in the India-administered part of the disputed Kashmir region. Saeed denies the allegations.
Furthermore, the US has offered a reward of up to $10 million for information on Saeed in connection with the Mumbai attacks.
According to the report, Saeed is the founder and commander of Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, a US-designated global terror organization that India accuses of orchestrating the Mumbai attacks and other crimes from claimed bases in Pakistan, claims Islamabad denies.
