A high-ranking Pakistani intelligence official refused to comment Tuesday when asked if underworld gangster Dawood Ibrahim and 26/11 Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed will be handed over to India any time soon.
Mohsin Butt, the director-general of Pakistan's Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) - in India to attend the Interpol General Assembly in Delhi - refused to answer questions on the topic by news agency ANI. Butt is part of the two-member delegation from Pakistan.
Dawood Ibrahim was designated a 'global terrorist' by India and the United States in 2003, over his involvement in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts. Last month the National Investigation Agency announced a cash reward of ₹25 lakh for information leading to his arrest.
The reward is in connection with a probe related to 'D' Company - Ibrahim’s gang -establishing a unit in India to smuggle arms, explosives, drugs and fake currency notes, and carry out terror attacks in association with Pak agencies and terror outfits.
{{/usCountry}}The reward is in connection with a probe related to 'D' Company - Ibrahim’s gang -establishing a unit in India to smuggle arms, explosives, drugs and fake currency notes, and carry out terror attacks in association with Pak agencies and terror outfits.
{{/usCountry}}Hafiz Saeed was added to the NIA's 'most wanted' list for his role in the 2008 Mumbai attack. In April, a Pak court sentenced the Lashkar-e-Taiba chief to four prison sentences ranging from six months to five years over terror financing cases. All are to run concurrently.
Despite tension between Islamabad and New Delhi, Pakistan's delegation attended the Interpol meeting, which is taking place in India after 25 years.
The General Assembly is Interpol's supreme governing body. Representatives from the 195 member countries meet annually. Each country may send one or more delegates - ministers, police chiefs, head of their Inteprol bureaus in their country, or senior ministry officials.