Pakistan not to hand over Mumbai suspects to India: FM

ISLAMABAD, Jan. 4 (PNA/Xinhua) -- Pakistan Sunday again ruled out hand-over of suspects of Mumbai attacks to India a day after the Indian prime minister asked Islamabad to hand over those behind the attacks.

Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi renewed Pakistan's policy at a press conference that no suspect would be handed over to India.

"We do not have an extradition treaty with India," Qureshi told a news conference at the eastern Pakistani city of Multan.

He said that Pakistan had an extradition treaty with the U.S.

However, "Please do not compare, every situation is not identical," Qureshi said when a journalist asked him about the hand-over of Pakistanis to the U.S.

Qureshi admitted that the Mumbai attacks, which killed about 170 people, had caused a setback for relations between Pakistan and India.

"There is a pause in the composite dialogue but we will endeavor to end this pause and move towards normal relations. We must emerge from the stress that has developed in our relations," he said.

Qureshi said that tension with India had reduced but had not yet been fully over.

"Friends and important nations in the region and beyond played positive roles to defuse the tension," he said, adding that good relations with India would remain Pakistan's policy.

"The Mumbai incident was a serious matter. There were great losses. Now we should find a solution that such attacks are not taken place in India, Pakistan and any other country in future," he said.

"We have to reach at the bottom of the matter that such incidents should not repeat in future. The region is under the threat of terrorism. There should be regional approach for solution. It is in our own interest," said the Pakistani foreign minister.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Saturday asked Pakistan to hand over "criminals responsible for Mumbai attacks so that they face trial in India."

At the press conference, Qureshi also announced that U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher would be visiting Pakistan and would meet him on Monday. (PNA/Xinhua)