Pakistan rejects Hafiz Saeed hand over to India due to non-treaty

Pakistan rejects the Indian call to hand over the Pakistani Islamist Hafiz Saeed to Indian authorities in an alleged case. Indian authorities have requested Pakistan to get custody of Hafiz Saeed.

Meanwhile, Pakistan rejects the request of India to hand over Hafiz Muhammad Saeed due to the absence of a treaty for extradition or handover. Mumtaz Zahra Baloch is a spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry. She confirmed that the Foreign Office received the request from India for custody of Hafiz Saeed in a “money-laundering case.”

She emphasized the non-existence of a bilateral treaty between India and Pakistan for this matter. Mumtaz Zahra stated that Pakistan would not consider the request of India due to the lack of an extradition agreement.

Pakistan on Friday apparently rejected an Indian request seeking the extradition of Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, the alleged mastermind of the November 2008 Mumbai attacks, citing a lack of an extradition treaty between the two countries.

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Earlier, a spokesperson for India’s external affairs ministry Arindam Bagchi, informed reporters about the custodian matter in New Delhi. He stated that the Indian government has issued a formal request to Pakistan for custody of Hafiz Saeed.

Arindam said the person in question (Hafiz Saeed) is wanted in many cases in India. He is also a UN-designated terrorist. In this context, we have sent a request to the government of Pakistan along with the necessary supporting documents to hand over Hafiz to India. So, he has to face trial in a particular case.

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Furthermore, Arindam said they have raised the issue of the activities for which they want Hafiz Saeed. This is a relatively new request to Pakistan.

Hafiz Muhammad Saeed received recognition as a person linked with the Al-Qaeda terrorist organization by the UN 1267/1989 sanctions. The United Nations (UN) subjected him to International sanctions shortly after the Mumbai bombing attacks in Dec 2008.

The UN also established a $10 million reward for information leading to the capture of Hafiz Saeed. However, a Pakistani anti-terrorism court sentenced him to 31 years imprisonment last year on terror financing allegations in Pakistan.