M A I N   N E W S

India wants Pak to hand over 30 ultras

New Delhi, December 28
India has prepared a list of about 30 terrorists and criminals, who have taken refuge in Pakistan and are wanted for crimes committed on the Indian soil, official sources said tonight.

The list, which includes Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar and underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, has been compiled with the intent of asking Islamabad to hand them over to India so that they are brought to book for crimes they have committed here, the sources said.

Besides these two, the list includes the five hijackers of the Indian Airlines flight to Kandahar, two more underworld operators accused in the 1993 Bombay blasts case — Tiger Memon and Chhota Shakeel — and top-ranking operatives of various terrorist organisations, they said.

These include nine commanders of the Hizbul Mujahideen, three of the Harkat-ul-Jihad-e-Islami, one each of the Lashkar-e-Toiba, the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen and the Khalistan Liberation Front, the sources added. PTI

Action against LeT, JeM: Pak to go by evidence

Islamabad, December 28
Ignoring American demands to take action against terrorist groups, Pakistan today reacted coolly saying it would ban the Lashkar-e-Toiba and the Jaish-e-Mohammed only if there was “evidence” of any undesirable activities by the two outfits.

Reacting to the US branding the LeT and the JeM as terrorist organisations, Pakistan Foreign Office spokesman Aziz Ahmed Khan told newspersons here that Pakistan would follow suit if they were found to indulge in undesirable activities.

“The United States action is applicable within the territory of the USA. As far as Pakistan is concerned every group and organisation is under scrutiny and under watch. If we find any evidence against any individual or group or organisation indulging in any undesirable activities, action against will be taken,” he said.

Defence spokesman Maj-Gen Rashid Qureshi, who was also present at the briefing, also discounted reports that the USA had forwarded evidence of the two groups involvement. PTI

PUCL team meets Dr Geelani

New Delhi, December 28
Jailed Delhi University lecturer A.R. Geelani has denied his involvement in the December 13 terrorist attack on Parliament and reiterated that he has been ‘falsely implicated’ in the case.

This was stated by a group of human rights activists and academicians from Delhi University, which yesterday visited the Tihar Jail where Dr Geelani is lodged.

People’s Union of Civil Liberties (PUCL) vice-president N.D. Pancholi, who led the team of Delhi University Professors who met Dr Geelani on the request of his family, said the lecturer claimed he was innocent.

“Dr Geelani categorically told me that he was innocent and had no connection whatsoever with any terrorist activity or organisation,’’ Mr Pancholi said in a statement. UNI