Deputy Prime Minister Lal Kishenchand Advani on Wednesday urged Islamabad to prove its commitment to the global fight against terrorism by handing over to India 20 fugitives hiding in Pakistan.
Addressing the Interpol's Third International Conference on Fugitives, Advani said: "It is pertinent to mention that the masterminds behind the serial bomb blasts in Mumbai in 1993, the attack on Indian Parliament in 2001 and many other terrorist crime are being harboured by a neighbouring country," he said.
He regretted that despite having provided reliable information about their whereabouts, little headway has been made in deporting or extraditing these criminals back to India.
" I would like to emphasise here that India has been battling terrorism -- a peculiar kind of terrorism, which is rightly described as cross-border terrorism -- for nearly two decades now. For a long time, we did not receive much international support. However, the perception of the global community has changed in this regard in the aftermath of 9/11 and terrorist strikes elsewhere in the world," he added.
Advani said the globalisation and advancements in the field of science have also helped the criminals. "The byproduct of globalised village is a globalised criminal. The perpetrators of an organised crime hatch a conspiracy in one country, plan the action in another and execute the same in a third country. In this scenario, the possibility of terrorist organisations acquiring weapons of mass destruction cannot be ruled out," he added.
Calling for simplification of extradition and deportation procedures, the deputy prime minister said: "Past experience indicates that the processes of extradition and deportation have become extremely tedious and cumbersome. Unfortunately, extradition has become an exception rather than the rule. I call upon the delegates of this conference to deliberate and suggest ways and means to make extradition laws simpler, faster and more effective. In my opinion,
deportation rather than extradition should be the rule," Advani said.
Pakistani delegate Nawaz U Nadeem was conspicuous by his absence and nobody in the Central Bureau of Investigation, the hosts, could confirm if Nadeem would take part in the deliberations.
"We have information that he is coming but so far he has not registered as a delegate with us," a CBI official said.