Bilawal Bhutto Zardari Offers Extradition of Hafiz Saeed, Masood Azhar
Bilawal's statement highlights the complexities of the Pakistan-India relationship, with both countries facing challenges in addressing terrorism and resolving longstanding issues. The extradition offer is seen as a confidence-building measure, but its success depends on India's willingness to cooperate and provide evidence and witnesses for the ongoing cases.
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Pakistan's former foreign minister, has expressed willingness to extradite terror suspects, including Hafiz Saeed and Masood Azhar, to India as a goodwill gesture, provided India cooperates in the process by providing evidence and witnesses for ongoing domestic cases.
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari stated that Pakistan has no objection to extraditing these individuals, but India's non-compliance with providing evidence and witnesses has hindered the process. He also expressed concern over India's approach to pursuing terrorists, calling it a "new abnormal" that could lead to military conflict between the two nations. Bilawal emphasized the need for dialogue and cooperation to address issues like terrorism and establish peace in the region.
Bilawal criticized India for not sharing evidence of terrorist attacks with Pakistan or the international community, and noted that India has faced fewer terrorism incidents compared to Pakistan. He reaffirmed Pakistan's stance that Kashmir is an integral part of Pakistan and that Muslims in India face systemic discrimination, with those who speak up for their rights being branded as terrorists. Bilawal emphasized that Pakistan has actively fought terrorism and that India should talk to Pakistan to find a solution.
The extradition offer comes as a significant development in the ongoing tensions between Pakistan and India, with Bilawal Bhutto Zardari reiterating the need for cooperation and dialogue to resolve bilateral issues and address the issue of terrorism. He also mentioned Pakistan's concerns about India's involvement in acts of terrorism targeting Pakistan and clarified that Pakistan supports the Kashmiris' right to self-determination under UN resolutions.