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| Afghanistan/South Asia |
| India asks Pakistanis to extradict Dawood Ibrahim, associates |
| 2005-08-29 |
| India sought the extradition of criminals and international terrorists like mob boss Dawood Ibrahim during talks between the home secretaries of India and Pakistan that began here Monday. Both sides managed to cover good ground on a host of issues, including terrorism, drug trafficking and the release of civilian prisoners, officials of India's home ministry said after the end of talks Monday. India has reportedly upgraded the list of 20 alleged criminals that it says are hiding in Pakistan and whose extradition it is seeking. "There are some criminals, terrorists and those who support terrorism and we are going to request our counterparts that they should be sent back here to face the legal process," India's Home Secretary V.K. Duggal told reporters. During the two-day talks, which are part of the ongoing composite dialogue process, India will not only press for the extradition of Ibrahim but also ask Pakistan to hand over wanted criminals it describes as "terrorists". Duggal will raise security concerns and urge Pakistan's Interior Secretary Syed Kamal Shah, who is leading an 11-member delegation, to widen cooperation in combating terrorism. Unconfirmed reports suggested Shah handed over a list of some Pakistanis who were suspected to be involved in terrorist activities and were living in India. "We cannot discuss all this in the open. These matters are sensitive," said a home ministry official who was part of the Indian delegation. Duggal and Shah will continue discussions Tuesday and a joint statement is expected at the end of the talks. Meanwhile, India has thanked Pakistan for its decision to provide consular access to Sarabjit Singh, an Indian national sentenced to death in Pakistan on charges of being a spy. Duggal said consular access was the first step towards working on Sarabjit Singh's clemency plea before President Pervez Musharraf. Home ministry officials said both sides had agreed during Monday's talks to work out a mechanism whereby civilian prisoners lodged in jails in both countries would be released. "We will try to make a distinction between civilians like fishermen and those who are hardened criminals," said an official who did not want to be named. Both countries have hundreds of prisoners in each other's jails. A majority are fishermen and civilians who strayed across sea and land borders. "We will make efforts to expedite the finalisation and signing of a memorandum of understanding for an institutional mechanism on drug control," said a senior home ministry official. Earlier, arriving here for the third round of talks between home secretaries of both countries, Shah had said he had come with a "very positive mind", but avoided comment on whether the release of Sarabjit Singh would be discussed. He said, "Usually the agenda (of India-Pakistan home secretary-level talks) is terrorism and drug trafficking but this time we have requested that we would like to discuss the issues of prisoners being held in both countries". On the issue of Sarabjit, Shah just said: "Let us see." The talks come ahead of talks between the foreign secretaries of India and Pakistan in Islamabad Sep 1. The foreign secretaries are expected to confirm a meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Pervez Musharraf on the sidelines of the UN summit next month. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |