Islamabad: Pakistan on Monday turned down India's demand to hand over three wanted terrorists and criminals, including Dawood Ibrahim, but offered to send a high-level delegation to New Delhi to carry forward the probe into the Mumbai attacks which were being linked to Pakistani elements.
Pakistan's response, handed over by Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir to Indian High Commissioner Satyabrata Pal, said Islamabad would itself take action against individuals if information provided by New Delhi proved they were involved in terrorism, said diplomatic sources.
The government turned down India's demand to hand over mob bosses Dawood Ibrahim and Tiger Memon and Jaish-e-Mohammed founder Maulana Masood Azhar citing the lack of an extradition treaty between the two countries, the sources said.
The Pakistani side also pointed to a decision made by the Defence Committee of the Cabinet that action against Pakistani nationals involved in terrorism would be taken within the ambit of the country's laws, the sources said.
A statement issued by the Foreign Office spokesman said it had been proposed that a high-level delegation should visit New Delhi to look into allegations of Pakistan-based elements being linked to the Mumbai attacks.
"The High Commissioner was informed that the government of Pakistan had initiated investigations on its own into the allegations that have surfaced concerning involvement of any individual or entity in Pakistan in the Mumbai attacks," the statement said.
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"The Foreign Secretary noted that to carry forward these investigations, we require detailed information/evidence. In this context, while reiterating our suggestion for joint investigations, the Foreign Secretary proposed that a high-level delegation from Pakistan may visit New Delhi as soon as possible," the statement said.
Sources said Pakistan's response to India's demarche was finalised during a meeting of the Defence Committee of the Cabinet chaired this afternoon by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani. Defence Minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani too attended the meeting.
India had handed over two demarches to Pakistan in the wake of the Mumbai attacks. The demand to hand over Dawood Ibrahim and the two others was made in the second demarche.
The first demarche, handed over on November 29, had expressed India's concerns about the involvement of Pakistan-based elements in the attacks and asked the Pakistan government to take action against them.
Pakistan's response to the first demarche, submitted on December 1, included an offer to assist India in probing the attacks. It also refuted allegations about Pakistan's "complicity" in the terrorist strike.
Even before the handing over of the formal response to the second demarche, interior ministry chief Rehman Malik had said on Thursday that Pakistan would not take action against Masood Azhar unless India provided "concrete evidence" of his involvement in the Mumbai attacks.
Malik, a senior leader of the ruling Pakistan People's Party, had also said Dawood Ibrahim and Tiger Memon were Indian citizens and were not in Pakistan.
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