Former Pakistani Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, in an interview, said that Islamabad “would not oppose” the extradition of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) chief Hafiz Saeed and Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) chief Masood Azhar as a “confidence-building measure”. The statement has drawn a strong response from Hafiz Saeed’s son, Talha Saeed, who said that Bhutto’s response is against the “national interest”.
‘Pakistan would not be opposed to…’
The statement came in response to a question about extraditing Hafiz Saeed and Masood Azhar. “As part of a comprehensive dialogue with Pakistan, where terrorism is one of the issues that we discuss, I am sure Pakistan would not be opposed to any of these things,” the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) chairman said in an interview with Al Jazeera.
He further stated that the cases against the “individuals of concern” are related to Pakistan, including charges of terrorist financing. However, he added that pursuing charges related to cross-border terrorism is challenging, given what he claimed was “non-compliance” from India.
“India is refusing to comply with certain basic elements that require that conviction to take place,” he further said, before adding, “It’s important… to present evidence within these courts, for people to come over from India to testify, to put up with whatever the counter-accusations will be. If India is willing to be cooperative in that process, I am sure there will be no hurdle in extraditing any individual of concern.”
When he was asked about the whereabouts of both the terrorists, he said that Hafiz Saeed is in the custody of the Pakistani state, while Masood Azhar is believed to be in Afghanistan. He further added that Islamabad would be more than happy to arrest Azhar whenever India pinpoints his location in Pakistan.
‘Statement against national interest’: Talha Saeed
Talha Saeed lashed out at Bilawal Bhutto saying that his statement was against the national interest and state policy.
“Bilawal Bhutto should not have talked about extradition of Pakistanis. His statement is against the state policy, national interest and sovereignty, and we strongly condemn it,” Talha Saeed said in a statement on Sunday.
He added that either Bilawal Bhutto is “unaware of ground realities or promoting the enemy’s narrative”, before questioning if a state representative could talk about handing over citizens to what he called the “enemy country”.
Nacta has banned both LeT, JeM
According to Pakistan’s National Counter Terrorism Authority (Nacta), both terror outfits – LeT and JeM – have been banned. 2008 Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed has been serving a 33-year sentence in Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat Jail since 2019. The attack killed 166 people.
Masood Azhar was in India’s custody until 1999 when he was part of a hostage swap deal during the Flight 814 Kandahar hijack. He is linked to several attacks in India, including the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, the 2016 Pathankot airbase strike and the 2019 Pulwama terror attack.
Both terrorists are on the US and UN lists of international terrorists.
PTI slams Bilawal Bhutto
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party (PTI) also slammed Bilawal Bhutto’s statement and tagged him as an “immature political child”.
Sheikh Waqas Akram, spokesperson of the jailed former prime minister Imran Khan-led PTI, further said that the PPP leader’s proposal was ill-advised and detrimental to Pakistan’s national security narrative, and such statements humiliate the country on international platforms, he said.
“We fail to understand why Bilawal is so keen on appeasing India. Bilawal has become a symbol of confusion and contradiction in Pakistan’s foreign policy discourse… PPP was founded by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto on the legacy of Kashmir, but today, Bilawal is betraying that legacy by pursuing political gains at the expense of Kashmiri blood,” he said.