India Asks Pakistan to Extradite Suspected Terror Mastermind

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.

“We have conveyed a request along with relevant supporting documents to the government of Pakistan,” Bagchi told reporters.

Meanwhile, Pakistan has confirmed that India officially demanded the extradition of Hafiz Saeed, a hardline Pakistani cleric suspected of involvement in terrorist attacks on Indian soil.

However, Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Mumtaz Zahra Baloch effectively rejected India’s demand, stating that the two countries have no bilateral treaty to address such matters.

Baloch made the statement just hours after the Indian Foreign Ministry spokesperson told a routine news conference that India has asked Islamabad to extradite Saeed for trial in India.

Baloch said New Delhi sought 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 on Friday, 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.

Additionally, The United States has also offered a reward of up to $10 million for information on Saeed in connection with the Mumbai violence.

Report says Saeed is known as the founder and leader of Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, or LeT, a US designated global terror group that India blames for plotting the Mumbai attacks and other violence from its alleged bases in Pakistan, charges Islamabad rejects.

VOA/Christopher Ojilere