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No request received from India, Interpol on Mumbai suspects: Pak

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Rezaul H Laskar PTI Islamabad

Pakistan today 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.

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First Published: Jun 25 2009 | 4:34 PM IST

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