The government on Wednesday informed the Lok Sabha that twelve Indian extradition requests were pending with foreign governments while twenty extradition requests from foreign governments were with India.
India has repeatedly failed to get wanted fugitives extradited or deported, the most recent examples being that of 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts accused Anees Ibrahim from Dubai and gangster Abu Salem, who is still under detention in Lisbon (Portugal).
Aftab Ansari, an accused in the bomb blast outside the United States Information Service Centre in Kolkata, was deported to India and not officially extradited despite an extradition treaty between India and the UAE.
No one was extradited from India in 2001. But in 2002, two Indians were extradited to the United States while one person was extradited to Canada, government sources said.
Opposition MPs Renuka Chowdhury, Sushil Kumar Shinde and Jyotiraditya Scindia asked Singh to reveal the names of individuals and outfits that are in the list of fugitives sought by both India and the United States. The list was handed over to Pakistan in December 2001.
"The list contains names of a number of terrorist organisations, which are listed under the Prevention of Terrorism Act. Some of them are Lashkar-e-Tayiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad, Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, Babbar Khalsa International and the International Sikh Youth Federation," Singh replied.
Asked about the criteria used while drawing up the list given to Pakistan, Singh said, "The list includes individuals who were involved in the Mumbai serial bomb blasts in 1993, the hijacking of Indian Airlines flight IC 814 to Kandahar in Afghanistan in December 1999 and other terrorist acts directed against India. These individuals are known to be hiding in Pakistan."
