The United States is understood to have asked Islamabad to hand over to India Dawood Ibrahim, Tiger Memon and others accused in the Bombay blast case who have taken shelter in Pakistan, highly-placed sources said on Thursday. Quoting intelligence reports, the sources said Washington had asked Islamabad to take action against the March 1993 serial blast accused and that the list of such terrorists would be further enlarged.
This follows the US declaration that its fight against terrorism would not be confined to the war against Taliban in Afghanistan. The sources said if Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has now described the recent attack on Jammu and Kashmir Assembly in Srinagar as terrorism and condemned it, the US can ask Islamabad to close down all terrorist camps operating there.
Pakistan, which is now part of the battle against terrorism, can also be asked to hand over Dawood Ibrahim and Jaishe-e-Mohammad Chief Maulana Masood Azhar and the hijackers of the Indian Airlines plane to Kandahar in December 1999. Home Minister L K Advani had brought up these concerns before British Premier Tony Blair during his recent visit.
Advani had on Wednesday said it was most significant that Musharraf had condemned the attack at the J&K Assembly in Srinagar and described it as an act of terrorism. The description (of the act) was different than what we heard at Agra.
Bureau Report