ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Thursday distanced itself from the issue of the extradition to India of Tahawwur Hussain Rana, a suspect in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, saying he was a Canadian national who had not renewed his Pakistani origin documents in the past two decades.
New Delhi accuses Rana, 64, of being a member of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), or the Army of the Pure, a group blamed by India and the United States for the four-day Mumbai siege in which 160 people, including Americans and other foreigners, were killed in 2008. Rana is accused of assisting his friend David Coleman Headley who was sentenced to 35 years in a US prison after pleading guilty to aiding LeT militants and scouting target locations in Mumbai.
Pakistan has always denied official complicity in the Mumbai attacks.
“On the Tahawwur Rana issue, we have conveyed our position regarding his Canadian nationality,” Foreign Office spokesperson Shafqat Ali Khan said in reply to a question during a weekly media briefing.
“As far as our record indicates, he did not even apply for renewal for his Pakistani origin documents for the last two decades …I reiterate the position that we will give further updates in due course.”
In February, US President Donald Trump announced the extradition of Rana, calling him “one of the very evil people in the world.”
The US Supreme Court rejected Rana’s plea in February to remain in the country, where he was serving a sentence for planning another LeT-linked attack.
According to a Reuters report, Rana, a former Pakistan Army doctor, immigrated to Canada in 1997 before moving to Chicago to set up businesses. He was arrested by US authorities in 2009, a year after the Mumbai attacks.
In 2013, a US court acquitted him of conspiring in the Mumbai attacks but sentenced him to 14 years for plotting an attack on the Jyllands-Posten newspaper office in Denmark, which had published blasphemous caricatures of the Holy Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him).
Media has reported that Rana and Headley knew each other from boarding school days in Pakistan. Headley testified as a witness at Rana’s trial, claiming he used Rana’s immigration services business as a cover to scout targets in India.
Rana admitted to visiting Mumbai before the attacks and staying at the luxury Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, which became the focal point of the deadly siege. However, he denied any involvement in the conspiracy.
Pakistan distances itself from extradition to India of 2008 Mumbai attacks’ suspect
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Pakistan distances itself from extradition to India of 2008 Mumbai attacks’ suspect
- Foreign office says Tahawwur Hussain Rana was Canadian, had not renewed Pakistani origin documents in decades
- 64-year-old is accused of being in LeT group, planning four-day Mumbai siege in which 160 people were killed in 2008
Pakistan says $50 million meat export deal with Tajikistan nearing finalization
- Islamabad expects to finalize agreement soon after Dushanbe signals demand for 100,000 tons
- Pakistan is seeking to expand agricultural trade beyond rice, citrus and mango exports
ISLAMABAD: Tajikistan has expressed interest in importing 100,000 tons of Pakistani meat worth more than $50 million, with both governments expected to finalize a supply agreement soon, Pakistan’s food security ministry said on Tuesday.
Pakistan is trying to grow agriculture-based exports as it seeks regional markets for livestock and food commodities, while Tajikistan, a landlocked Central Asian state, has been expanding food imports to support domestic demand. Pakistan currently exports rice, citrus and mangoes to Dushanbe, though volumes remain small compared to national production, according to official figures.
The development came during a meeting in Islamabad between Pakistan’s Federal Minister for National Food Security and Research Rana Tanveer Hussain and Ambassador of Tajikistan Yusuf Sharifzoda, where agricultural trade, livestock supply and food-security cooperation were discussed.
“Tajikistan intends to purchase 100,000 tons of meat from Pakistan, an import valued at over USD 50 million,” the ambassador said, according to the ministry’s statement, assuring full facilitation and that Islamabad was prepared to meet the demand.
The statement said the two sides agreed to expand cooperation in meat and livestock, fresh fruit, vegetables, staple crops, agricultural research, pest management and standards compliance. Pakistan also proposed strengthening coordination on phytosanitary rules and establishing pest-free production zones to support long-term exports.
Pakistan and Tajikistan have long maintained political ties but bilateral food trade remains below potential: Pakistan produces 1.8 million tons of mangoes annually but exported just 0.7 metric tons to Tajikistan in 2024, while rice exports amounted to only 240 metric tons in 2022 out of national output of 9.3 million tons. Pakistan imports mainly ginned cotton from Tajikistan.
