'Those Who Are Wanted By India...' MEA Responds As LeT Terrorist Killed by 'Unknown Gunmen' in Pak

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Thursday responded to the recent killing of a Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist in Pakistan by ‘unknown gunmen’, and said that those who are wanted by Indian authorities should come here and “face the legal system”.

“Those who are wanted in India to face justice for criminal and terrorist activities, we would like them to come to India and face our legal system, but I cannot comment on developments that are taking place in Pakistan,” MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said.

Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist Hanzla Adnan, a close aide of Hafiz Saeed, was recently killed by “unknown gunmen” in Karachi. He was the mastermind of the 2015 Udhampur attack on a Border Security Force (BSF) convoy.

Adnan was shot outside his house on the intervening nights of December 2 and 3.

MEA spokesperson Bagchi also spoke about Khalistani terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun’s threat of an attack on the Parliament building on December 13 and said that India always takes threats seriously.

“We do take threats seriously. We are caught in a bind here. I don’t want to amplify or give too much credence to such extremists who make threats. We have taken up this matter with the US and Canadian authorities. Extremists and terrorists tend to want media coverage on an issue,” Bagchi said.

On the prosecution of SFJ chief Pannu, Bagchi said, “He is wanted by our agencies for violation of the law and there is a process under which we seek assistance and that they are prosecuted, depending on whether the crime is committed. In our case, I think requests have gone through detailing the kind of crimes that he is responsible for, in India…We have also flagged concerns to our partners regarding any threats made by extremists or terrorists against India or India diplomats…”

The MEA spokesperson further assured that India was closely monitoring the matter of a death sentence given to eight Indians in Qatar.

“Meanwhile, our ambassador got consular access to meet all 8 of them in prison on December 3. This is a sensitive issue, but we will continue to follow and whatever we can share, we will do so,” he said.