Pakistan stated on Friday that there was “no bilateral extradition treaty” between the two nations, but it did reveal that India has requested the extradition of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) founder Hafiz Saeed.
In multiple terror cases, Indian investigative authorities are looking for Hafiz Saeed, the mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai assault and a terrorist banned by the UN.
Arindam Bagchi, a spokesman for the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), announced on Friday that Saeed, who is based in Pakistan, had been extradited. The request was conveyed to Islamabad along with some documents.
“We have submitted a request to the Pakistani government along with pertinent supporting documentation,” Bagchi informed reporters in New Delhi, noting that Saeed is also a terrorist banned by the UN.
According to the Pakistani media, Foreign Office Spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said Pakistan received a request from the Indian authorities seeking Saeed’s extradition in a “so-called money laundering case”.
She added that “it is pertinent to note that no bilateral extradition treaty exists between Pakistan and India.”
Islamabad and New Delhi do not have an extradition agreement. People with knowledge of the situation, however, stated that extradition is still feasible even in the lack of a framework agreement.
The Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) detained radical cleric Saeed in July 2019 after receiving 23 initial information reports against him and his close associates.
In April 2022, an anti-terrorist court sentenced him to 33 years in prison for financing two acts of terrorism.
Due to his suspected role in the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, Saeed is considered one of India’s most wanted terrorists and is the subject of a $10 million bounty from the United States.
The attacks, orchestrated on November 26, 2008, over the course of four days, killed as many as 166 people and injured 300.
