[Dawn] The United States believes that Pakistan will deport the five American Muslims arrested there for allegedly trying to contact religious extremists.The official said it was still not clear if those five suspects had broken any US law while in Pakistan but said the US would seek their extradition and he believed that Pakistani authorities would have no objection to sending them home.
Earlier, Pakistani police officials told reporters that five young Muslim men from Northern Virginia had tried to join a militant group.
They said they had recovered laptops, maps and extremist literature from them in a raid on a house in Sargodha. The material suggested that the Americans wanted to train for jihad, Pakistani officials said.
But FBI officials in Washington once again said they had no information linking the five young Americans to terrorist organisations.
The US Embassy in Islamabad told reporters that US officials, including some from the FBI, had visited the men.
Meanwhile, another State Department official said it was 'too premature' to talk about the extradition of Pakistan-born American David Coleman Headley, alias Dawood Gilani, to India for his alleged role in the Mumbai terror attacks of November last year.
'Obviously, we do have an extradition treaty with India, but how that will work going forward, I think that's premature,' Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs P.J. Crowley said at his daily press conference.
'As to the precise disposition of Headley's case, at the present time, I'll refer you to the Department of Justice,' he added.
He was responding to the statement by Indian Home Secretary G.K. Pillai that New Delhi would seek the extradition of Headley, who was arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in October on charges of plotting terrorist attacks in Denmark and India.
Asked what message did the arrest of some Pakistan-American citizens for their alleged involvement in terrorist activities send, Mr Crowley replied: 'I think you're leaping to a conclusion that we have not drawn.'
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