Bharat had been requesting for extradition of 26/11 attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed for a long time and Pakistan has received it. However, neighbouring country’s Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said there is no bilateral extradition treaty between Bharat and Pakistan.
Baloch acknowledged that “a request from Bharat, wanting extradition of Hafiz Saeed in a money laundering case” has been received by Pakistan, however, there is “no bilateral extradition treaty between Pakistan and Bharat”.
External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said Hafiz Saeed “is wanted in multiple cases in Bharat” and a request have been conveyed in this regard. Bharat has send “relevant supporting documents to the Pakistan Government to extradite” the terrorist to Bharat “to face trial in a particular case,” added Bagchi.
Hafiz Saeed, the founder of terrorist organization Lashkar-e-Taiba or LeT, is a hardcore terrorist proscribed by the United Nations and EU in the 2000s and has been lodged in jail for other charges since July 17, 2019.
He was given a jail term of 33 years by a special anti-terrorism court in Pakistan’s Lahore for “financing terrorism” in April 2022.
Irrespective of all these, Hafiz Saeed was neither charged nor extradited over nearly two decades.
