Pak's latest flip-flop, says it has extradition treaty with US

Islamabad, Jan.1 (ANI): Days after rejecting reports regarding having an extradition treaty with the United States, Pakistan has said that both the countries do actually have in place a policy for return of fugitives as per a notification of 1973.

"We have an extradition treaty with the US," Foreign Office spokesperson Abdul Basit said during a regular press briefing here.

It is pertinent to mention here that Basit, during a press conference last month, had denied the existence of any formal accord between Islamabad and Washington regarding the extradition of criminals.

Pakistan has rejected the White House' calls for handing over criminals to the American authorities on several occasions in the past citing the lack of formal agreement between the two countries in this regard.

Former President General Pervez Musharraf had also turned down a US request for extradition of Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, who was wanted in connection with the assassination of journalist, Daniel Pearl.

The arrest of the five US origin terror suspects from Sargodha, Punjab, last month, has once again stirred up a debate on the existence of an extradition treaty.

While the Obama administration has requested Islamabad to hand over the 'jihad seekers' to US agencies for further investigation, Pakistan has made it clear that they would be tried in the country. (ANI)