PM Modi, President Trump call on Pakistan to bring perpetrators of 26/11 Mumbai attacks to justice

Washington: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump have called on Pakistan to "expeditiously" bring to justice the perpetrators of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks even as the latter announced approving extradition to India of Tahawwur Rana, a key plotter of the dastardly strike.

The US president hosted Modi at the White House on Thursday in their first bilateral meeting after Trump became the US president for a second term.

Trump, addressing a joint media briefing with Modi, announced that his administration has approved the extradition of one of the "very evil people" of the world to India.

"He is going to be going back to India to face justice," he said. "We're giving him back to India immediately" and more such extraditions could follow as we have quite a few requests (from New Delhi), the US president added.

On his part, Modi thanked Trump for the decision.

"I am thankful to the President that he has decided to hand over the culprit who committed the killings in India in 2008, to India now. Indian courts will now take appropriate action," he said.

Modi said India and the US have stood "firmly together" in the fight against terrorism and both sides agreed that concerted action is necessary to "eradicate" cross-border terrorism.

A joint statement said the two leaders committed to strengthening cooperation against terrorist threats from groups, including Al-Qaeda, ISIS, Jaish-e Mohammad, and Lashkar-e-Tayyiba to prevent heinous acts like the Mumbai attacks.

It said the leaders reaffirmed that the "global scourge" of terrorism must be fought and terrorist safe havens eliminated from every corner of the world.

"They committed to strengthen cooperation against terrorist threats from groups, including Al-Qaeda, ISIS, Jaish-e Mohammad, and Lashkar-e-Tayyiba in order to prevent heinous acts like the attacks in Mumbai on 26/11 and the Abbey Gate bombing in Afghanistan on August 26, 2021," it said.

Recognising a shared desire to bring to justice those who would harm our citizens, the US announced that the extradition to India of Rana has been approved, according to the statement.

"The leaders further called on Pakistan to expeditiously bring to justice the perpetrators of the 26/11 Mumbai, and Pathankot attacks and ensure that its territory is not used to carry out cross-border terrorist attacks," it said.

On November 26, 2008, a group of 10 Pakistani terrorists went into a rampage, carrying out a coordinated attack on a railway station, two luxury hotels and a Jewish centre, after they sneaked into India's financial capital using the sea route in the Arabian sea.

As many as 166 people were killed in the nearly 60-hour assault that sent shockwaves across the country and even brought India and Pakistan to the brink of a war.

The two leaders also pledged to work together to prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their delivery systems and to deny access to such weapons by terrorists and non-state actors, the statement noted.