Friday, January 20 2006 15:19 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: With several Indian terrorists continuing to take shelter in Pakistan, India has pressed that country to sign the Extradition Treaty and Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) to ensure that such elements are brought to book.

The Indian side sought inking of the Extradition Treaty and MLAT at the just-concluded Foreign Secretary-level talks here in the context of fighting terror as Pakistan claims that it is opposed to it and is ready to cooperate with India, official sources told sources here today (Jan 20, 2006).

The Pakistani side, however, remained silent on the subject, the sources said about the two-day talks between Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran and his Pakistani counterpart Riaz Mohammad Khan which ended on Wednesday.

India has given a list of 20 terrorists, including that of Dawood Ibrahim, to Pakistan about two years ago, seeking their deportation. But Pakistan has been claiming that they were not in the country.

At the meeting of the Foreign Secretaries, the Indian side observed that Pakistan's response with regard to fight against terrorism has been 'negative' even as several positive developments have taken place between the two countries on other fronts, the sources said.

Conveying concerns over unabated cross-border terrorism, India specifically referred to the recent terror attacks in Delhi and Bangalore in which Pakistan-based Lasher-e-Taiba outfit has been found involved.

The Indian side conveyed to Islamabad that if such incidents continued, it could have negative impact on the ongoing peace process.

Pakistan, while seeking to wash its hands off these incidents, offered to help in the investigations if India provided concrete evidence linking any group based in that country.

Despite Pakistan being in the denial mode, India has been hoping that Islamabad would hand over the 20 terrorists, some of whom are most-wanted here.

The issue has been figuring in talks at various levels between the two countries and will come up during the coming Home Secretary-level meeting in Islamabad expected in March.