Interior Minister Rehman Malik on Monday said David Coleman Headley, a terror suspect of Pakistani origin detained in the U.S., should face action under American laws.
Though Headley was of Pakistani origin, he had left the country in his youth, Mr. Malik told reporters in the southern port city of Karachi.
“If he has committed any crime, he should be punished under U.S. laws,” he said.
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Mr. Malik was responding to a question on whether American authorities had sought Pakistan’s help in probing Headley’s links in the country.
The minister said Pakistan will provide help to U.S. authorities if any formal request is received for assistance in the matter.
In response to another question, Mr. Malik said evidence of India’s alleged involvement in fomenting unrest in Pakistan has been handed over to the foreign ministry.
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Pakistan will present this evidence when the composite dialogue between the two countries resumes, he said.
He also said arms and militants were being sent into Pakistan from Afghanistan.
Pakistan has taken up this matter with senior Afghan and U.S. leaders, he added.
Replying to yet another question, Mr. Malik said al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden was not in Pakistan.
Pakistani authorities will take action if Western countries that have been claiming bin Laden is in the country shared information on his whereabouts, he said.
American authorities recently arrested Headley, a U.S. citizen living in Chicago and also known as Daood Gilani, and one of his accomplices in the city on charges of planning terrorist attacks in Denmark and India.
He has also been accused of having close links with the banned Lashker-e-Taiba, which the Pakistan government has acknowledged was behind the Mumbai attacks.