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Showing no inclination to hand over the 20 terrorists and criminals even four months after the demand was put forth by India, Pakistan has claimed that New Delhi had failed to furnish evidence against them and said the issue could be discussed between the two nations.
Pakistan's Interior Minister Moinuddin Haider also claimed that Dawood Ibrahim, prime accused in the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts, was not in Pakistan.
The minister told this on the sidelines of an Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) ministerial meeting on terrorism in Kaula Lumpur (Malaysia).
He said that the issue of handing over the terrorists and criminals was 'not a major issue' and can be sorted out through discussions.
The minister defended the release of former Lashkar-e-Tayiba chief Hafiz Mohammad Sayeed saying that neither he nor his organisation had 'broken any law'.
He, however, admitted that Lashkar was 'doing something else' under the guise of 'educational and other activities'.
Describing the present Indo-Pak relations as 'unsatisfactory and bad', Haider said, "The time has come to restore normalcy."
"Ultimately, both countries have to engage in a dialogue," Haider said.
Stressing that Kashmir was the 'central issue', he said, "Once it is resolved, then we hope that everything else - trade, development and cooperation - can be taken care of."
He accused India of vitiating the atmosphere by taking 'several unilateral decisions like stopping train and bus services, placing curbs on travel between the two countries and troop build-up on the border'.
Likening the Kashmir issue with the Palestinian problem, the Pakistani minister, however, said the situation was not 'that bad' in Kashmir.
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