LAHORE, Dec 31: Syed Anwar Mahmood, the federal information secretary, refused on Monday to say whether Pakistan would hand over to India the 22 people New Delhi had asked for.

The Indian government alleges that the people named in the list are involved in terrorist activities in that country. The names include those of Maulana Masood Azhar and Daud Ibrahim.

“I don’t want to offer any comment at this stage,” said the information secretary when asked if Pakistan would hand over these people to New Delhi.

He dismissed the suggestion that there was any shift in Pakistan’s Kashmir policy. He said President Gen Pervez Musharraf had said it time and again that there was a clear difference between freedom movement and terrorism. He also rejected the assertion that the government was taking action against militants under foreign pressure.

“There is no such pressure at all,” he said.

He said the government had taken the actions on its own under a policy which had now been in place for several months.