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Afghans turn down Pak
request for extradition

Despite repeated requests by Pakistan's interior ministry to the Taleban Government to extradite the terrorists, wanted in a number of cases of sectarian killing, Afghanistan has not responded positively, the Friday Times reported.

Chief Executive Gen Pervez Musharraf has asked Interior Minister Lt Gen Moinuddin Haider to rush to Kabul to persuade the Taleban to deport the terrorists.

Pakistan has submitted to Kabul a list of terrorists who have taken refuge in Afghanistan. The terrorists escaped to Afghanistan after involvement in sectarian killings in Pakistan.

The Taleban regime has recently conveyed to the Pakistani authorities that there was no question of handing over any fugitive to Pakistan.

The paper said the military regime was interested primarily in the extradition of 24 terrorists belonging to the Laskar-E Jhangvi, an outfit of the Deobandi Sipah-e-Sahaba and a viciously anti-Shia organisation. Almost all terrorists who have taken refuge in Afghanistan belong to the Lashkar-E Jhangvi. The terrorists carry a cash award of Rs 20 million.

The paper said the Taleban militia were rabidly anti-Shia. The Lashkar-E Jhangvi terrorists, who were mainly operating from Afghanistan, were trying to expand their network inside Pakistan and may go in for major operations.

The most wanted terrorist was Muhammed Riaz Basra, convicted for assassinating Aqai Sadiq Ganji, director general of the Iranian Cultural Centre in Lahore, in December 1990. Basra, who escaped from a court, had been supervising training for activists of his outfit.

Basra is believed to have fought in Afghanistan in the 1980s against Russians. Later, he joined the Sunni outfit -- Sipah-i-Sahaba, but subsequently set up his own terrorist organisation, the Laskar-E Jhangvi. Sectarian violence in Pakistan is a direct product of the Afghan war. It began with rival groups targeting prominent leaders on both sides of the divide.

The paper said most judges in Pakistan avoid hearing sectarian cases, for fear of reprisal.

There were 1174 sectarian murder cases before the Pakistan Supreme Court. More than 100 were pending before it till October 2000. A many as 45 of 152 proclaimed offenders in sectarian cases were arrested last year.

UNI

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