No formal request made for Kasab's custody: Pak

Islamabad: In a day of flip-flops, Pakistan on Wednesday said it had not "as yet" sought custody of Ajmal Amir Kasab from India, hours after a top legal official here claimed that a formal request had been made and it would be "very difficult" to prosecute other accused in the Mumbai attacks if he was not handed over.
Pakistan "has made no formal request to India as yet" for the custody of Kasab, the lone gunman captured alive during the November 26 Mumbai terror strikes, Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit said in a brief statement.
The statement came shortly after Deputy Attorney General Sardar Mohammad Ghazi, who has been appointed Special Public Prosecutor for the trial of Pakistani suspects linked to the Mumbai attacks, said Kasab is the "prime suspect" and it would be "very, very difficult to prosecute the other suspects" in this country if he is not handed over to Pakistan.
In New Delhi, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee made it clear that India will react only after it receives an official communication from Pakistan.
Ghazi told Dawn News channel, "the government of Pakistan has formally requested the Indian government to hand over the custody of Ajmal Kasab because he is the prime suspect and the rest of these suspects, they are abettors, they abetted the crime"