Pakistan rejects Lakhvi’s extradition

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is believed to have turned down an American demand to extradite Zakiur Rahman Lakhvi, Lashkar-e-Taiba chief operational commander and alleged mastermind of the Mumbai attacks to India.

Well-placed diplomatic sources in Islamabad say the Bush administration’s extradition request was accompanied with a taped conversation Zaki Lakhvi had with the gunmen involved in the Mumbai terror attacks.

Pakistani authorities were told that the American audio experts had checked the tape and concluded it was genuine and that the man speaking to the Mumbai attackers while the terror operation was on was indeed Lakhvi.

Sources, however, said it was not clear if the Americans recorded the conversation using their own surveillance methods or received the tape from the Indians.

While rejecting the American demand, the authorities in Islamabad reportedly said that all suspects would be tried in Pakistan and not handed over to India. Sources said Americans had intervened for Lakhvi’s extradition on behalf of the Indians after Pakistan rejected an earlier similar demand from New Delhi.