Handover LeT Commander to India: US to Pak

Islamabad, Dec 30: United States has mounted pressure on Pakistan to extradite India Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) commander Zaki Al Rahman Lakhvi, a report from media said on Wednesday, Dec 31. Lakhvi is the alleged mastermind of the 26/11 attacks.

"The Americans are believed to have given Pakistan a taped conversation Lakhvi allegedly had with the gunmen involved in the attacks," said Pakistan"s Dawn newspaper in a dispatch from Washington, quoting US and diplomatic sources.

The American audio experts examined the tape and concluded that the speaker was Lakhvi.
"It is, however, not yet clear if the Americans recorded the conversation using their own surveillance methods or received the tape from the Indians, who have blamed Lakhvi right from the beginning," the newspaper said.

Indian officials had told journalists that they believed Lakhvi and Yusuf Muzammil , who heads the LeT's operations in India, had masterminded the Mumbai terror attack. In this regard, Pakistani security officials told the media that they had arrested Lakhvi and some of his top lieutenants. All suspects would be tried in Pakistan and would not be handed over to India, Pak officials.

"Until this week, US officials had not taken a clear stand on this issue but Lakhvi's reported conversation with the gunmen appeared to have changed their minds," Dawn said.
Lakhvi comes from the same place as Azmal Amir Kasav, the lone terrorist arrested during the Mumbai attacks., reports in the US media said.

However, Pakistan alleged the conversation as not 'aunthentic' and was reluctant to agree about the voice in the tape is of Lakhvi.

OneIndia News (With inputs from Agencies)