India asks Pakistan to extradite terror suspects

New Delhi: India has sought the extradition of 20 suspected terrorists from Pakistan after last week's attacks in Mumbai, Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee said.

“We have, in our demarche, asked for the handover of those persons who are settled in Pakistan and are fugitives as per Indian law,'' Mukherjee told reporters in New Delhi today. “We are awaiting a response from Pakistan.''

Pakistan's High Commissioner Shahid Malik was summoned to the foreign ministry in New Delhi on Monday and told that India is also seeking the destruction of militant training camps in the part of Kashmir controlled by the neighboring country, an Indian foreign ministry official said today, on condition of anonymity.

India blamed the worst terrorist attacks in 15 years that killed 195 people on “elements'' based in Pakistan and on Monday told its neighbor to match words of cooperation with action, according to a press release.

India has a list of 20 wanted persons, which is “sometimes altered,'' Mukherjee said. “We have renewed it in our demarche.''

Those sought to be extradited include underworld gang leader Dawood Ibrahim, wanted in the 1993 Mumbai terrorist attacks, and Maulana Masood Azhar, head of the Jaish-e-Muhammad Muslim extremist group, which has attacked India in the past.