|
India demands Pakistan hand over Salahuddin
India said on Friday that Pakistan should arrest the leader of a powerful Kashmiri guerrilla group based there and hand him over to New Delhi if it was serious about fighting terrorism.The call came after Indian officials said Pakistan-backed Islamists may have carried out or planned last week's bomb blasts in Mumbai that killed more than 180 people. Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has offered to help in the investigation into the bombings. "The self-styled chief of the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, Syed Salahuddin, who is freely roaming in Pakistan and in PoK ... should be arrested and handed over to India," Indian Foreign Ministry spokesman Navtej Sarna told reporters, referring to Pakistan-administered Kashmir as Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). The Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, led by the Pakistan-based Salahuddin, is the biggest militant group fighting Indian rule in Kashmir, where more than 45,000 people have been killed since 1989. Sarna said New Delhi also wanted Pakistan to ban another militant group, Jamaat-ud-Dawa, which the United States says is a front for the Lashkar-e-Taiba, the militant group Indian officials say probably carried out or planned the Mumbai blasts. The Hizb-ul-Mujahideen quickly dismissed the Indian demand. "No one has any right to arrest Syed Salahuddin or any Kashmiri from their homeland," Ehsan Elahi, the group's spokesman told Reuters. "India has occupied our territory and does not have any right to make such demand." On Thursday, Musharraf urged India not to indulge in a "blame game" after the Mumbai blasts and said the two countries should take the two-and-a-half-year peace process forward. Sarna said India was committed to the peace process, but urged Pakistan to act against the guerrillas. "Let me add India remains committed to the dialogue process with Pakistan but this can be sustained or yield results only if Pakistan acts against terrorist groups operating from territories under its control," he added. Posted by: john 2006-07-21 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=160407 |