Date:05/01/2009 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2009/01/05/stories/2009010558870100.htm

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Pakistan will not hand over suspects to India: Qureshi

Islamabad: Pakistan on Sunday rejected India’s demand to hand over terror suspects linked to the Mumbai strikes, insisting that there was no extradition treaty between the two countries.

There can be no comparison between Pakistan’s extradition of terror suspects to the U.S. and India’s demand for the handing over of persons linked to the Mumbai attacks, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said.

“We have a treaty with the U.S.; we do not have an extradition treaty with India. Please do not compare, every situation is not identical,” Mr. Qureshi told journalists in Multan. Pakistan would frame a response on matters related to the Mumbai attacks only when it received “something officially from India.”

He reiterated that no information was shared by New Delhi with Islamabad.

His comments came a day after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asked Pakistan to hand over the terror suspects.

Mr. Qureshi is scheduled to meet U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher on Monday.

Mr. Boucher is travelling to the region to urge India and Pakistan to push forward the probe into the Mumbai attacks.

The tension sparked by the Mumbai attacks was defused due to the intervention of “friends and important nations in the region and beyond,” Mr. Qureshi said.

Pakistan wanted a solution that would ensure that attacks did not occur in India or any other country.

“We want good relations with all our neighbours, be it India, China or Iran. Good relations with India are in Pakistan’s interests. It will ensure our stability.” — PTI