ISLAMABAD, July 30: Pakistan would not hand over terrorists arrested from Gujrat to any foreign country till investigation agencies completed their questioning, said interior minister Faisal Saleh Hayat.
Talking to reporters here on Friday he said investigating agencies were questioning the suspects for their links with terrorists in Pakistan whether they had any network here.
He said once the investigations were completed, the government would then think of handing them over to any country which sought them. However, he said the procedure would be undertaken strictly in accordance with the international law.
He said the operation was not for any monetary consideration rather it was for making the country more secure and safe. The operation, the minister said, had been undertaken by local law-enforcement agencies and no foreign force had been involved in the arrest of these terrorists.
TANZANIA HAILS ARREST: Tanzania on Friday welcomed the arrest of a key suspect in the devastating 1998 bombings of US embassies in Dar es Salaam and Nairobi, saying it hoped the right procedures would be observed for justice to take its course, AFP adds.
"It is our hope that relevant international legal procedures are now going to be followed until the suspect is brought to justice... and justice takes its course," Tanzanian Deputy Foreign Minister Abdul kadir Shareef told AFP by telephone.
Mr Shareef was reacting to reports that Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, a key suspect in the bombings, had been arrested by Pakistan authorities on Sunday. "We have received the reports through international media, but we are following up the issue through Tanzanian embassies in Riyadh and Beijing to verify details that the captured suspect was indeed a Tanzanian on the wanted list," he said.
Home Affairs Minister Omar Ramadhan Mapuri also told AFP that Tanzanian police "are now working in collaboration with Interpol to establish the identity of the arrested suspect."
"If it is established that the arrested suspect was Ghailani, then Tanzania is going to agree with the legal procedures that the US government wants to pursue," Mr Mapuri said, pointing out: "The US courts could have juridiction over the matter since the offence was committed within premises of its embassies."
"But that is not automatic. We are waiting for more evidence on the issue before a decision can be made on our part," Mr Mwapuri said, when asked if Tanzania will allow Ghailani to be flown from Pakistan to the United States for trial.
The August 7, 1998, twin terrorist attacks, the bloodiest in sub-Saharan Africa, killed 11 people in Dar es Salaam, and 213, including 12 Americans, in Nairobi and injured more than 5,000 others.
