Pakistan Rejects India’s Extradition Request for Hafiz Saeed, Citing Lack of Bilateral Treaty

Pakistan has rejected India’s formal request for the extradition of Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, the leader of the banned Jamaatud Dawa (JuD). The Foreign Office spokesperson, Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, stated that while Pakistan received the extradition request on the grounds of a purported money laundering case, there is no bilateral extradition treaty between Pakistan and India, which is a fundamental requirement for such demands.

India accuses Saeed of orchestrating cross-border attacks, a claim vehemently denied by the chief of the banned outfit. Saeed, also the founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), was sentenced to 31 years in prison for two counts of terrorism financing by a Pakistani court. He was arrested in 2019 during Pakistan’s efforts to exit the Financial Action Task Force’s grey list, which includes countries with strategic deficiencies in their anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing regimes.

Despite the lack of an extradition treaty, India’s External Affairs Ministry emphasized that the request for Saeed’s transfer to India for trial was accompanied by relevant documentation. The founder of LeT and JuD has long been a contentious figure, with the United States placing a $10 million bounty on him in 2012, and both organizations being banned entities in the US and under UN sanctions.