WASHINGTON: The US has approved the extradition of a suspect in the 2008 militant attacks in India’s financial capital Mumbai in which over 160 people were killed, President Donald Trump said on Thursday in a press conference with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Trump did not name the individual in the press conference, but a joint statement from the two sides later identified the man as Tahawwur Hussain Rana, a Canadian citizen of Pakistani origin who was based in Chicago, was convicted in 2011 and later sentenced to 13 years in prison.
Late last month, the US Supreme Court rejected Rana’s review petition against his extradition. Rana was previously sentenced to US federal prison for providing support to the Lashkar-e-Taiba.
Speaking at a joint media briefing with Modi, Trump announced that his administration had approved the extradition of one of the “very evil people” of the world to India.
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“He is going to be going back to India to face justice,” he said.
“We’re giving him back to India immediately,” Trump added, hinting that more such extraditions could follow as “we have quite a few requests (from New Delhi).”
Modi, in turn, expressed gratitude to Trump for the decision.
Trump was also asked about Sikh separatists in the US, whom India calls security threats. Although he did not respond directly to the question, Trump said India and the US worked together on crime.
Since 2023, India’s alleged targeting of Sikh separatists in the US and Canada has emerged as a wrinkle in ties, with Washington charging an ex-Indian intelligence officer in a foiled US plot.
