'No request received from India, Interpol on Mumbai suspects'

Rezaul H Laskar
Islamabad, Jun 25 (PTI) Pakistan Thursday said it has not

received a formal request from India or Interpol to hand over
22 suspects in the Mumbai terror attacks even as it insisted
it will take action against its nationals on its own soil.

Islamabad's reaction came two days after a Mumbai court
issued non-bailable warrants against 22 Pakistanis, including
JuD chief Hafiz Mohd Saeed and LeT's operations commander
Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi.

Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit said that Islamabad
has not received any official request from Interpol or India
in connection with the arrest warrants issued for 22 Pakistani
nationals by a special court in Mumbai.

However, "I will not comment on their (Indian) legal
process. We will follow our own procedure," he said.

Mumbai Special Court judge M L Tahaliyani issued the
warrants on Tuesday after prosecution alleged the 22 suspects
had trained Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, the lone terrorist capture
alive during the attacks, and nine others in Pakistan.

The warrants would be sent to the Interpol which will
issue red corner notices to member countries and flash them
all over to trace the absconders, public prosecutor Ujjwal
Nikam had said in Mumbai.

Asked about the Mumbai court's warrants, Pakistan
Interior Minister Rehman Malik separately made it clear that
Islamabad would not hand over "any individual to India" simply
on the basis of such warrants.

Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Malik Amad Khan
also said that "no Pakistani national would be handed over" to
India.

He said Pakistan would bring people involved in the
Mumbai attacks "to justice but in our own country" provided
India gave more evidence on the terror strikes.

Meanwhile, replying to a question on Indian national
Sarabjit Singh whose appeal against his death sentence has
been dismissed by the Pakistan Supreme Court, Foreign Office
spokesman Basit told a weekly news briefing that he was "not
aware" of the government considering any proposal for clemency
for him.

Sarabjit was sentenced to death by an anti-terrorism
court in 1991 for his alleged involvement in four bomb blasts
in Pakistan in 1990 that had claimed 14 lives. PTI RHL
PMR
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