Pakistan is set to seek from India the custody of Swami Aseemanand and his accomplices, who are alleged to be involved in the Samjhauta Express bombing that killed at least 68 Pakistanis, official sources said.
“This is seriously being considered and we can see Pakistan asking for their custody very soon,” a senior government official told this newspaper. “This demand could come up in the talks between the Pakistani and Indian foreign secretaries in Bhutan,” he added.
On Monday, the Pakistan foreign office summoned the acting Indian high commissioner in Islamabad, Mr G.V. Srinivas, seeking details of investigations into the Samjhauta Express bombing.
The issue resurfaced when a Hindu extremist leader, Swami Aseemanand, confessed that he was involved in the Pakistan-India Samjhauta Express train bombing in 2007 in which 68 Pakistani nationals were killed. Aseemanand said in his confession that the bombing was carried out in retaliation to Muslim militants attacking Hindu temples.
The foreign secretaries of Pakistan and India will meet in Bhutan on the sidelines of the Saarc summit in February. No dates have been fixed as yet. They are expected to discuss ways to take forward the stalled peace process between the two countries. Islamabad has accepted a proposal from New Delhi for foreign-secretary level talks.