Will Pakistan hand over Masood Azhar and Hafiz Saeed to India? Bilawal Bhutto says Islamabad has no objection to extraditing 'individuals of concern'
Bilawal Bhutto said Masood Azhar was not in Pakistan while admitting that Hafiz Saeed was in Islamabad's custody | AP, X
Former Pakistani foreign minister Bilwal Bhutto Zardari said Islamabad has no objection to extraditing 'individuals of concern' to India.
“As part of a comprehensive dialogue with Pakistan, where terrorism is one of the issues that we discuss, I am sure Pakistan would not be opposed to any of these things," he said.
However, he alleged that India is refusing to comply with "certain basic elements that require that conviction to take place".
"It’s important… to present evidence within these courts, for people to come over from India to testify, to put up with whatever the counter-accusations will be," said Bilawal. "If India is willing to be cooperative in that process, I am sure there will be no hurdle in extraditing any individual of concern."
Where is Masood Azhar now?
However, Bilawal denied that Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar is in Pakistan, telling reporters that Islamabad has been "unable to identify or arrest" the mastermind of 2008 Mumbai attacks. He said Islamabad would be "happy to arrest" Azhar if India can share proof that the JeM chief is in Pakistan.
"Given his past within the Afghan jihad context, it is our belief that he is in Afghanistan," Bilawal said, adding that Pakistan would not be able to do what NATO was unable to do within Afghanistan.
It should be noted that India released the JeM chief in exchange for the passengers during the IC-814 hijack in 1999. Azhar, a UN-designated terrorist, was also involved in the 2001 Parliament attack, the 2016 Pathankot attack and the 2019 Pulwama attack.
Where is Hafeez Saeed now?
When asked about Hafiz Saeed's whereabouts, Bilawal admitted that the Lashkar-e-Taiba chief is in Pakistan but also claimed that he is not a free man. "That's factually not correct that Hafiz Saeed is a free man. He is in the custody of the Pakistani state," the former minister said, responding to a New York Times report, which claimed the LeT chief was free.
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