[JURIST] Pakistani officials said Tuesday that Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi [official profile] will not hand over to India any Pakistani citizens arrested in connection with the Mumbai terror attacks [BBC backgrounder], insisting instead on a joint investigation with Indian officials. Several offices of the Pakistani terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) [ADL backgrounder] have been raided as Pakistan intensifies its efforts [AP report] to apprehend terror suspects. On Sunday night, head of LeT Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi [START profile] and others believed to be responsible for the attacks last month were arrested [JURIST report] in Pakistan. India has also provided Pakistani authorities with a list of other suspects whom they want extradited to India. In an opinion piece [text] published Tuesday in the New York Times, Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari [official profile] wrote:

Pakistan is committed to the pursuit, arrest, trial and punishment of anyone involved in these heinous attacks. But we caution against hasty judgments and inflammatory statements. As was demonstrated in Sunday’s raids, which resulted in the arrest of militants, Pakistan will take action against the non-state actors found within our territory, treating them as criminals, terrorists and murderers. Not only are the terrorists not linked to the government of Pakistan in any way, we are their targets and we continue to be their victims.