Pak refuses to hand over 20 terrorists wanted by India

Pakistan will not hand over any of the listed 20 terrorists wanted by India in the wake of the terror attacks in Mumbai, according to a media report.

Some of the terrorists in the list currently do not live in the country, while others are under constant surveillance by Pakistan's security and intelligence agencies, official sources told the The News daily.

"There is no precedent of handing over any alleged suspect to India and vice versa. So turning these 20 persons over to India is out of question because we have our own surveillance apparatus in place and we have confirmed that none of them was involved in any suspected activity, while some of them are currently not even living in Pakistan," the paper quoted an official as saying.

"The organisations banned by the Pervez Musharraf regime in the wake of the 9/11 incident have been under constant surveillance and all those freed have already been cleared by intelligence agencies after thorough investigations," he said.

There has been no official word on the names included in the list, which was discussed at a meeting of political parties convened yesterday by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani to evolve a consensus on dealing with the tensions with India.

Emerging from the meeting, former federal minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said the names of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim and Tiger Memon and Jaish-e-Mohammed founder Maulana Masood Azhar figured in the list. Ahmed also said there was nothing new about India's demand for handing over these men.

The name of Lashker-e-Taiba founder Hafiz Mohammed Saeed is also on the list, official sources said. The LeT has been blamed by Indian security officials for carrying out the Mumbai attacks.