Word for foreign office: No request for handing over Lakhvi

Pakistan on Tuesday denied reports that the UK and Washington had asked it to hand over 26/11 accused Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi to India or to them for his “independent trial” to help improve ties with New Delhi. “No one has asked or sent any formal request to the (Pakistan) government to hand over the person (Lakhvi) to India or any other country,” Pakistan’s foreign office spokeswoman Tasneem Aslam told Times of India. The prosecution chief of FIA Chaudhry Azhar had informed the Islamabad High Court on Monday that two countries, whose citizens were killed in the Mumbai attacks, had asked Pakistan to hand over Lakhvi. Azhar had not named the countries while he appeared before the court in connection with a hearing in Lakhvi’s bail cancellation case. But media reports suggested Washington and London had written to Pakistan and sought Lakhvi’s custody. Pakistan has an extradition treaty with the US. Lakhvi has been in news since a Pakistani anti-terrorism court granted him bail on December 18 in the 26/11 case.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 22^nd, 2015.