With the trial of 26/11 accused Ajmal Kasab drawing to a close, BJP on Thursday demanded that the government ensure primary players are punished and David Headley is extradited to India for interrogation to expose the Lahore and Karachi angle to the Mumbai attack.
"Many of the master minds, in spite of being named in the charge sheet, could not be tried because they are outside India and mostly in Pakistan...the country expects that the primary players and main conspirators should also be tried and punished," BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said. He said Kasab, Fahim Ansari and Salahuddin Ahmed, who were tried for 26/11 attack, were only "secondary players".
BJP demanded that the role of terror outfit LeT, its chief Hafiz Saeed and elements of Pakistan's ISI and its army who provided both logistical support and training should be exposed and the guilty punished. "It is in the interest of the global fight against terror that the Lahore and Karachi angle of the conspiracy must be exposed," the Rajya Sabha MP said.
Prasad said commitment of both the US and the Indian government to the fight against terror was on test and the latter should ensure that Pakistani-American Headley was extradited to the country for custodial interrogation.
Referring to two UN resolutions (no. 1373 and 1267) under which every country is obliged to support others in the investigation and trial of terror related offences, Prasad said these are equally binding on the USA.
"India and USA already have Extradition Treaty and Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty," Prasad said, adding, "Equally on test is the self proclaimed achievement of the UPA Government that we are having very good strategic relationship with the USA." Prasad said the attitude of Pakistan has been less than satisfactory in this whole affair.
"India has handed over 12 dossiers to Pakistan containing substantial evidence against Hafiz Saeed and many others, but they have treated it with contempt, which was reflected in the despicable words of Pakistan Foreign Secretary that they are more literature than evidence," he rued. PTI
