India sticks to stand on extradition of Mumbai attack planners

New Delhi: India wants the Mumbai attack planners to be extradited to India, Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee said on Friday, despite reports that New Delhi had no problems with their being tried in Pakistan.

"We have never given up the demand that the perpetrators of the terror act should be handed over to India," Mukherjee said.

"There is no question of that (giving up the extradition demand) or climb down."

The minister was reported to have said last week in an interview with the India Today media group that those accused in the Mumbai attacks could be tried and punished in Pakistan, a comment Indian newspapers interpreted as a climbdown in New Delhi's demand for extradition of militants.

Mukherjee's interview came after Britain's Foreign Secretary David Miliband said the Pakistani state was not linked to the Mumbai attacks and he showed no support for India's demand for extradition of the accused.

"There is no question of that we have given up this demand," Mukherjee said. Tensions have flared between the nuclear-armed neighbours since the attacks, which India blamed on Pakistani militants backed by some official agencies there. India went into diplomatic overdrive to gain support for its case after the November attacks that killed 179 people.