India Wants Pakistan to Extradite Terror Suspects

New Delhi calls on Pakistan to hand over Lashkar-e-Taiba leader Hafiz Mohammad Saeed and 20 others tied to local terrorism.

NEW DELHI (AsiaNews/Agencies) - India has asked Pakistan to hand over Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, leader of Lashkar-e-Taiba, a fundamentalist Islamic organisation active in South Asia, as well as other terrorists it believes are sheltered in Pakistan. The formal request of extradition for 20 fugitives from Indian justice was made during a formal protest to the high commissioner of Pakistan over last Wednesday's attacks in Mumbai which left 188 people dead and about 300 wounded.

India's Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee said that only time will tell what actions are necessary in the fight against terrorism but stated that India was not considering a military option.

"We have asked for the arrest and handover of those persons who are settled in Pakistan and who are fugitive of Indian law," Mr Mukherjee said, adding that no one should misconstrue his words because no military action is planned.

Official Indian sources report that the country's intelligence services had information about a possible attack in September, which top national security officials did not heed. Now the government must analyse what went wrong and why.

In Islamabad the Pakistani government said that it would extend all possible cooperation and assistance to New Delhi as long as there is evidence of Pakistani suspects' involvement.

Pakistan proposed a joint commission to shed light on who was behind the outrage.

A statement attributed to the one surviving terrorist has raised tensions between the two South Asian nuclear powers. After his capture he said he had trained in Pakistan and had taken his orders in a based located along the border.

However in view of the situation Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said that terrorists should not be allowed to undermine the hard work put in by both countries in their bilateral relations and in the peace process,

In Israel the six victims of the attack against Mumbai's Chabad House, the Chabad Lubavitch movement's community centre, were laid to rest. Three were Israelis; one was a rabbi with joint US-Israeli citizenship; one, an American Jew; and the sixth, a Mexican Jewish woman who was planning to emigrate to Israel this week.