PAKISTAN: President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan has ruled out extraditing 20 alleged terrorists wanted by India, but said they could be prosecuted under Pakistan's laws, reports said yesterday. The list is understood to include not only Islamic militants but the leader of a Sikh separatist organisation and a group of Bombay gangsters suspected of having fled to Pakistan.
The official Associated Press of Pakistan quoted Gen Musharraf as telling a joint meeting of the National Security Council and the cabinet on Wednesday that "the question of handing over anybody to India did not arise".
"The government of Pakistan will examine the evidence and act against those elements under the law of the land," he said.
In The Nation newspaper, the Information Secretary, Mr Anwar Mahmood, quoted the president as saying India must provide evidence against those named on a "wanted" list in connection with the December 13th attack on its parliament. "If India provides evidence against any group or individual, we will take action under the law of the country and will not hand over anyone to India," he cited Gen Musharraf as telling the meeting.
On Wednesday, Pakistan authorities had held out the possibility that the 20 suspects could be extradited under a regional anti-terrorism convention if India agreed to provide sufficient evidence. The Foreign Ministry spokesman, Mr Aziz Ahmed Khan, told a press briefing that "even under the SAARC convention evidence will have to be provided before extradition can take place or any action can take place".
"The list is with regard to crimes committed in India. Obviously they have to provide evidence," he said.
India's "wanted" list threatens to be a barrier to the de-escalation of tensions between the nuclear-capable neighbours who are now in battle-ready positions along their border.
Gen Musharraf declared on Wednesday that Pakistan wants peace with India but not at the cost of its honour and dignity.
"Pakistan wants peace and de-escalation but should a mistake of attacking Pakistan be made they would regret their decision," he said. "Our deterrence is complete in all respects, on the ground, air and on the high seas." India has demanded that the 20 wanted "terrorists and criminals" be arrested and extradited.
"This list is very important," the Home Minister, Mr L.K. Advani, said earlier in the week, adding that Islamabad needed to "continue to take vigorous anti-terrorist actions".
India had been providing evidence to Pakistan for nine years that terrorists were taking shelter there, the Indian Foreign Minister, Mr Jaswant Singh, said yesterday, adding the information was sufficient for a crackdown.
Mr Singh told reporters the evidence included a list of six people, including their passport details, who had carried out a series of bomb blasts in India's financial capital Bombay. The list was given to Pakistan in 1993, he said.
He also said the Indian government had asked Pakistan to detain the hijackers of an Indian Airlines flight in 1999, which had been commandeered to Afghanistan on the way from Kathmandu to New Delhi. India has blamed Pakistani intelligence for backing the attack by a militant suicide squad on the Indian parliament.