- Tuesday, February 25, 2025
New Delhi also took note of reports of Saeed’s son Talha Saeed standing for the upcoming elections in Pakistan and said the “mainstreaming” of radical terrorist outfits in that country is nothing new.
By: Shubham Ghosh
INDIA has asked Pakistan to extradite Hafiz Saeed, co-founder of Islamist militant outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai attacks mastermind and a UN-proscribed terrorist. He is wanted by probe agencies in India in a number of terror-related cases.
Pakistan on Friday confirmed that India has sought the extradition of Saeed.
Dawn.com reported that when it reached out for comments on the issue, Pakistan’s ministry of foreign affairs spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said Pakistan received a request from the Indian authorities seeking Saeed’s extradition in a “so-called money laundering case”.
She added that “it is pertinent to note that no bilateral extradition treaty exists between Pakistan and India.”
New Delhi does not have an extradition pact with Islamabad. However, people familiar with the matter said extradition is possible even in the absence of such a framework pact.
New Delhi also took note of reports of Saeed’s son Talha Saeed standing for the upcoming elections in Pakistan and said the “mainstreaming” of radical terrorist outfits in that country is nothing new and that it has been part of its state policy for a long time.
Arindam Bagchi, spokesperson of India’s ministry of external affairs, said the request for extraditing Saeed, 75, along with certain documents was recently sent to Islamabad.
“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,” he said.
Bagchi’s remarks came in response to a question at his weekly media briefing.
The Indian high commission in Pakistan handed over the request to Islamabad a few weeks ago, he said.
Bagchi added that India has been flagging to Pakistan the activities of Saeed and that he is wanted in India. Asked about reports of Saeed’s son Talha Saeed standing for elections in Pakistan, Bagchi said, “We have seen some reports in this regard. It is an internal affair”, adding that he generally does not comment on internal issues of any country.
At the same time, he said, “The mainstreaming of radical terrorist outfits in Pakistan is nothing new and has been part of its state policy for a long time.”
“Such developments have serious implications for the security of the region. On our part, we will of course continue to monitor all developments that have an implication on our national security,” he added.
Talha Saeed is considered the second in command in the LeT hierarchy after his father.
(With PTI inputs)
