WASHINGTON DC: A cocktail of airplane hijackers, Islamic radicals, smugglers, and Sikh militants – elements that Pakistanis say their military establishment consider strategic assets to counterbalance Indian influence in South Asia--, are
among nearly 20 terrorists that India wants Pakistan to extradite in the wake of the Mumbai mayhem that left nearly 200 dead and 300 injured in India's commercial capital last week.

Some of them are wanted for the 1993 serial bombings in Mumbai that left nearly 300 killed: terror don Dawood Ebrahim and some of his so-called nine jewels: “Tiger” Ebrahim Memon, Ayub Memon, and Abdul Razzak. A fourth
associate, Chota Shakeel is wanted in quite a few criminal operations conducted by the mafia don. Two other accomplices of the man whose worth is
estimated at $500 million are Ishaaq Atta Hussain and Sabir Ali Shaikh. The two are wanted in connection with a conspiracy to kill Indian Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister L.K. Advani.

The Kashmir related alleged terrorists include three key leader Lashkar-i-Toiba's Hafiz Mohammed Saeed, Jaish-e-Mohammed's Maulana Masood Azhar, and Hizbul Mujahideen's Syed Salahuddin, while the others are foot soldiers involved in the hijacking of IC- 814 Ibrahim Attar, Zahoor Ibrahim Mistri, Shahid Akhtar
Sayed and Azhar Yusuf.

At least five Sikh militants are also on the list: Wadhawa Singh Babbar, Ranjit Singh Neeta, Paramjit Singh Panjwar, Lakhbir Singh Rode and Jaginder Singh.

Robert Hathaway, Asia Director at the Woodrow Wilson Center, said. "Rightly or
wrongly, most Indians assume Islamabad had some sort of role in the terrorist attacks on Mumbai last week."

He said U.S. calls for patience are not likely to satisfy New Delhi as rising public anger and the prospect of national elections next spring will combine to reduce the maneuvering room available to Prime Minister [Manmohan} Singh's government. "It is a situation fraught with peril," he adds.

Hathway said it would be unwise to epxect too much from the civilian govenrment of Asif Ali Zardari. “The problem is a military and intelligence service
[I.S.I.] that is not under the control of the government.”

He said New Delhi's request for extraditing the 19 were not new as it had been making the demand since early 1990s. “I wished New Delhi had had a better
thought out strategy than simply repeating the old requests that it has been making for the last 15 years,” Hathaway said.

He warned India would be playing in the hands of the terrorists if it went for their hot pursuit like the U.S. did for the Taliba'an after the 911 attacks. "That would result in ceasing the operations in the Federally Aministered Tribal Areas
where the U.S. is leaning very heavily on Pakistan. People responsible for the Mumbai attacks would love that and there will be a total chaos in South Asia,”
he said.

Hathaway applauded Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's visit to New Delhi and said it underscores the point that the U.S. stands with India. “There is highest level of intelligence sharing between New Delhi and Washington,” Hathaway said.

A second U.S. scholar Dr. Marvin G. Weinbaum, schiolar in residence at the Middle East Institute, described India's demand as a “litmus test” to see if Islamabad really means what it was saying that non-state actors should not be allowed to derail the peace process between the two neighbors.

Weinbaum said, “The key here is as tensions rise, Pakistan is forced to go on the defensive. India fails to recognize the fact the more you push Pakistan, the more such elements stand to gain.”

He argued a hawkish stance from India helps the extremists as they then acquire public support, but conceded the 19 persons that India wanted extradited were an important instrument of Pakistan's foreign policy.

“The motive of those who carried out the Mumbai mayhem is to poison the relationship between the two countries,” he said.

Weinbaum said at this juncture the best possible option is international encouragement to enable the two neighbors to continue with the peace process.
“Dont threaten, don't talk about mobilization,” Weinbaum counseled the Indian leadership.

He said he clearly understands the Pakistan army is calling the shots in this matter as Zardari had offered to send the country's I.S.I. chief to partake in the investigations in Mumbai but had to eat his words.

“How many times will he have to go back on his words,” Weinbaum asked, in an oblique reference to failed attempts of the Zardari led Pakistani administration
to rein in the omnipotent ISI.

Ramesh Vinayak of India Today Tuesday in an exclusive report gave the backgrounders of the 19 wanted terrorists:

 http://indiatoday.digitaltoday.in/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=21573&issueid=82

Five of the 19 are extremely high profile.

Dawood Ebrahim: An Indian underworld don, was No. 4 on the Forbes' world's Top 10 most dreaded criminals list of 2008.

He will turn 53 on December 26.

He was the man behind the planning and financing of 13 explosions in Mumbai in 1993 in which almost 300 people died. Ebrahim is wanted in connection with cases of arms supply, counterfeiting, drugs trade, funding alleged criminals, murder and smuggling. He lives in and operates from Karachi, Vinayak wrote.

The U.S. has long been interested in Ebrahim's arrest, but consumed with the war in Iraq and Afghanistan did not press for his extradition.

The FBI would like to see him arrested.

Special Agent Richard Kolko, a unit chief at the FBI's National Press Office, told Mayank Chhaya of Indo-Asia News Service, "The US Department of the Treasury
designated him a 'Specially Designated Global Terrorist' on Oct 16, 2003. (Dawood) Ebrahim has shared his smuggling routes with Al Qaeda and funded
attacks by anti-Western Islamic groups. He is also accused of masterminding the 1993 Bombay bombings."

Kolko added: "(Dawood) Ebrahim's criminal syndicate aids terrorist groups ranging from Al Qaeda to Lashkar-e-Toiba."

Dubai insiders told this correspondent Ebrahim's Rolls Royce was a regular feature at the Nasser Square, the Wall Street of Dubai, in the early 1990s as he had solid connections with those in the upper echelons of society, including the ruling family.

As Dubai is a free port, smugglers are considered respectable traders. Ebrahim made his debut by acting as a middle man for Pakistani bullion kings such as the late Abdullah Bhatti and Haji Ashraf Amin, who dominated the Dubai gold souq for nearly three decades.

But upon India's request, Ebrahim was aksed to leave Dubai. He suffered from paranoia while he was in Karachi in the late 1990s and lost a 12-year-old
daughter who died of malaria.

Ebrahim used to be a playboy in Dubai, frequenting the bars and nightclubs, and gambling heavily during cricket matches -- even buying the players to fix matches.

Ebrahim's London-educated daughter Mahrukh is married to Junaid Miandad, a son of Pakistan cricket coach Javed Miandad. Those invited to their 12-course
wedding dinner three years ago included former Pakistan dictator Gen. Pervez Musharraf and cricket legend-turned-politician Imran Khan.

A senior journalist, TIME correspondent Ghulam Hasnain, almost lost his life when he did an expose on Dawood Ebrahim--Portrait of a Don-- for the monthly Newsline.

Hasnain wrote: “According to informed sources, Dawood is Pakistan’s number one espionage operative. His men in Mumbai help him get whatever information he needs for Pakistan. Rumour has it that sometimes his men in Karachi accompany Pakistani intelligence agents to the airports to scan arriving passengers and identify RAW agents. Both Dawood and his lieutenant Chota Shakeel, who have international satellite telephones and mobile roaming facilities, are in constant touch with their people in India and are allegedly able to garner
valuable information for local agencies."

 http://www.newsline.com.pk/NewsSept2001/coverstory2.htm

Hasnain was abducted and tortured by sleuths of the ISI.

Hafiz Mohammad Saeed: Engineer-turned-fanatic preacher is co-founder of Lashkar-e-Toiba for jihadi operations in Kashmir and against India. He also blamed for the attack on the Indian Parliament. He operates from Muridke town, near Lahore in Pakistan. The Associated Press, citing unnamed Indian government officials, reported Thursday evidence collected in the investigation pointed to two LeT commanders Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi and Yusuf Muzammil as masterminds behind the bloody rampage in Mumbai.

Maulana Masood Azhar: The Bahawalpur-based maulana-cum-mercenary was among three top terrorists released by India as part of the hostage release deal on the IC-814 Indian airliner hijacked by his brother and supporters to Kandahar. Upon his release he founded Jaish-e-Mohammad that led an attack on India's Parliament on December 13, 2001. He is also wanted for an attack on the J&K Assembly on October 1, 2001 in which 38 people were killed.

Syed Salahuddin: Resident of Badgam district in Kashmir, he is chief of Hizbul Mujahideen, which has claimed responsibility for dozens of attacks on Indian
forces in Jammu and Kashmir. He currently operates from Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir.

"Tiger" Ibrahim Memon: Accused of executing the 1993 Mumbai blasts, he is also wanted in several cases of murder, extortion, kidnap, terrorism and smuggling
arms and explosives in India. He is currently living in Pakistan.

[Ahmar Mustikhan is founder of the DC-based Americans Friends of Baluchistan. He can be reached at  ahmar_reporter@yahoo.com]