New Delhi: India has formally requested that Pakistan extradite the 2008 Mumbai attacks suspect Hafiz Saeed for trial in India, according to New Delhi’s Ministry of External Affairs.
“We have conveyed a request along with relevant supporting documents to the government of Pakistan,” ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi told reporters in a briefing on Friday.
Bagchi said the last communication was sent to Pakistan “a few weeks ago”, local media reported.
Pakistan on Friday said that it has received a request from India to extradite Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, the chief of the banned Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) but said it may not take any action on it in the absence of an agreement in this regard.
“Pakistan has received a request from the Indian authorities, seeking extradition of Hafiz Saeed in a so-called money laundering case,” Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said in a statement, Geo News reported.
However, there might be no plans to follow up on India’s request, as “no bilateral extradition treaty exists between Pakistan and India”, she added.
Saeed, who is currently in custody in Pakistan, co-founded the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) armed group. He is accused by India and the United States of being involved in the attacks on India’s financial hub, which killed 166 people.
India has long been asking its neighbour to hand Saeed over to face trial in the case.
Saeed denies any involvement in the 2008 attacks, in which 10 gunmen slipped into Mumbai by boat from Pakistan. The gunmen carried out attacks at city landmarks for days.
