Monday, January 5, 2009

Pakistan has to extradite terror suspects: India

India on Monday demanded from Pakistan the extradition of perpetrators of the Mumbai [Images] attacks so that they can be brought to justice in India.
It also said that it cannot believe a commando-type operation that was in evidence in Mumbai attacks could have taken place without anybody in the Pakistani establishment knowing about it.
"Our goals are clear. We want the perpetrators to be brought to Indian justice," Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon told reporters in New Delhi [Images] while briefing them on the material shared with Pakistan today.
"All that we want is action and not words from Pakistan. But so far, there is no evidence of it," he said while replying to questions.
"We have given them material that has come up during our investigations. We hope they will investigate this material that leads to Pakistan, share the results with us and extend to us legal assistance so that we can bring the perpetrators to Indian justice," Menon said.
"The assistance from Pakistan extends up to and includes extradition," he said.
Maintaining that the time was not for words but for substance and action, Menon said so far India has 'not seen any action at all' from Pakistan.
"We would like to see real action as soon as possible," he said in reply to a question on a time-frame for a response from Pakistan.
Observing that the investigation into the serial terror attacks in Mumbai were not over, the Foreign Secretary said while the crime was committed in India, the conspiracy was hatched in Pakistan.
"We have requested Pakistan to fulfill her commitments to us," he said.
Maintaining that New Delhi had earlier given evidence to Islamabad [Images] on the deadly attack on Indian Embassy in Kabul, Menon said, "We are hoping that the previous pattern (of not cooperating) is not repeated in this case."
Under international conventions and the SAARC Charter, Pakistan was obliged to extradite the perpetrators of the terror attacks in India, he said.
The material handed over to Pakistan in New Delhi and Islamabad includes the records of interrogation of arrested terrorist Ajmal Kasab [Images], details of the terrorists' communication with elements in Pakistan during the attack, details of the weapons or equipment recovered from the crime scene and details of data recovered from GPS instruments and satellite phones, Menon said.
"It is hard to believe that something of this scale that took so long in preparation and of this nature that amounts to a commando attack could occur without anybody, anywhere in the establishment, knowing this was happening. Wherever the investigation leads, we will follow," the Foreign Secretary said.

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