India repeats request to Pak to hand over terrorist Hafiz Saeed

New Delhi: India has repeated its request before Pakistan to extradite Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) founder and the man behind the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, Hafiz Saeed. A UN-proscribed terrorist, Saeed is wanted for many terror crimes in India, The Indian Express reported.

Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said on Friday that Saeed is a UN-proscribed terrorist and is wanted in many cases in the country.

Bagchi said that the ministry had requested Pakistan the same with relevant supporting documents. Saeed is wanted for trial in a particular case, he said. According to him, the latest communication between the two nations was a few weeks ago.

For a long, India has been asking Pakistan to extradite Saeed so that he could face trial for the 2008 Mumbai attack. Saeed has a USD 10 million bounty over his head added by the US government.

On reports on Saeed’s son, Talha Saeed, contesting in elections in Pakistan, Bagchi commented that the mainstreaming of radical terrorist outfits in Pakistan is nothing new and has been a part of its state policy for a long time. The said development has serious implications for security for “our region”, and India will monitor all developments that have potential implications to its national security, he said.

India declared Talha, who serves as the Lashkar-e-Taiba’s second-in-command and controls financing, a terrorist under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) in April 2022. A government notification, that declared him a terrorist, stated that Talha heads the cleric wing of LeT.