Why Can't Pakistan Hand Over Terrorists If US Can, Asks Indian Envoy: 'Give Us Hafeez Saeed, Lakhvi, Sajid Mir'

(MENAFN- Live Mint) India's Ambassador to Israel JP Singh said on Tuesday that Pakistan should handover key terrorists such as Hafiz Saeed, Sajid Mir and Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi just like the US extradited one of the masterminds of 26/11 Mumbai terror attack, Tahawwur Hussain Rana.

"When the US can hand over these culprits, why can't Pakistan hand over? They have to simply hand over Hafeez Saeed, Lakhvi, Sajid Mir and things will be over", Singh said in an interview with Israeli TV channel i24 on Monday.

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The Indian ambassador cited a long list of terror attacks in India that originated from Pakistan, saying that the "root cause are these two groups - Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taib ".

"The leaders of Lashkar-e-Taiba which was behind the Mumbai attacks in which several Jews were also killed, continue to roam free," he was quoted by news agency ANI as saying.

"They need to do a very simple thing - when the preamble includes goodwill and friendship, they just need to hand over these terrorists to us", the envoy said.

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Singh also stressed that India's Operation Sindoor against Pakistan is "paused" and "not over".

When asked if the ceasefire is holding and if it is the 'end of the matter' for India, Singh responded by saying that "the ceasefire is still holding on, but we have made it very clear that Operation Sindoor is paused, it's not yet over".

Narrating the incidents leading up to India's offensive, Singh said that the operation was initially against terror groups in Pakistan.

"The terrorists killed people based on their religion. They asked people their religion before killing them and 26 innocent lives were lost", the Indian ambassador said citing the Pahalgam attack of April 22.

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"India's operation was against terror groups and their infrastructure to which Pakistan responded by attacking India's military installations", he emphasised.

He said, "The fight against terrorism will continue. We have set a new normal and the new normal is that we will follow an offensive strategy. Wherever terrorists are, we have to kill those terrorists and we have to destroy their infrastructure. So it is still not over, but as we speak the ceasefire is still intact."

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