NEW DELHI: India is seeking the extradition of a top Pakistan militant suspected to have planned the 2008 Mumbai attacks after the United States said last week he was living freely in Pakistan, government officials said on Sunday.
India and the United States have both indicted Sajid Mir of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba group for the three-day attacks on hotels, a train station and a Jewish center in which 166 people were killed including six Americans.
While Pakistan took action against the Lashkar founder Hafiz Saeed last year, it continued to provide safe harbor to other top militant leaders, the US State Department’s 2019 country report on terrorism said.
One of them was Sajid, the “project manager” of the Mumbai attack, believed to remain free in Pakistan, the US report said.
An Indian official said the government has repeatedly asked Pakistan to hand over Sajid who is charged with serving as chief planner of the attacks, directing preparations and reconnaissance and was also named as one of the Pakistan-based controllers during the attacks.
“We have asked before, and are demanding again, he needs to be handed over,” the official dealing with regional security issues said.
Pakistan’s foreign office did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Pakistan has repeatedly rejected US allegations that it is a safe haven for militants and said it has prosecuted the leadership of several proscribed groups.
Another Indian official said the lack of action against Sajid was in conflict with Pakistan’s assurances to international organizations including the Financial Action Task Force, the global watchdog on terrorism financing. Pakistan is trying to get off the FATF grey list of offending nations.
The FBI has posted a reward of $5 million for information leading to the capture of Sajid who is also wanted for a 2008/2009 plot against Denmark’s Jyllands-Posten newspaper to avenge its publication of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad that enraged many Muslims.
India seeks extradition from Pakistan of suspected Mumbai attack mastermind
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India seeks extradition from Pakistan of suspected Mumbai attack mastermind
- An Indian official said the government has repeatedly asked Pakistan to hand over Sajid who is charged with serving as chief planner of the attacks
- Pakistan has repeatedly rejected US allegations that it is a safe haven for militants
Afghan Taliban says Pakistan bombs Kabul in fresh escalation
KABUL: The Afghan government said on Friday that Pakistan had carried out fresh strikes on Kabul and several other provinces.
Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a post on X that Kabul, Kandahar, Paktia, Paktika, and some other areas, were targeted.
Pakistan has killed at least 641 Afghan Taliban operatives and injured more than 855 in the ongoing conflict between the two sides since last month, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said on Wednesday.
Islamabad has said its airstrikes, which have at times directly targeted the Afghan Taliban government, are aimed at ending Kabul’s support for militants carrying out attacks on Pakistan. The Taliban has denied aiding militant groups.
Fresh clashes between the two neighbors began on Feb. 26 after Afghanistan’s border forces launched attacks against Pakistani military installations. Kabul said the attack was in retaliation for Islamabad’s airstrikes earlier in February. Both forces have since then engaged in the worst fighting between them in decades.
Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan have remained strained since the Afghan Taliban seized power in August 2021. Pakistan has witnessed a surge in militant attacks across the country in recent months that it blames on militants it alleges are based in Afghanistan. Kabul denies the allegations and insists that its soil is not used by militant groups for attacks against other countries.
While Afghanistan has voiced the desire for dialogue, Pakistan has repeatedly ruled out talks, saying it will continue targeting militant hideouts through “Operation Ghazab lil Haq” until Kabul desists from supporting militants.
