Uzbekistan has asked Pakistan to extradite a number of suspected al Qaeda fighters of Uzbek origin who have been captured during the recent fighting in north-western Pakistan, Uzbek President Islam Karimov said on Tuesday.
"I have expressed Uzbekistan's desire to extradite all Uzbek citizens or former Uzbek citizens captured in Pakistan," Karimov said.
"The whole operation in Pakistan has been successful and I hope that the Pakistani side will understand Uzbekistan's wishes," Karimov told journalists.
A substantial number of citizens or former citizens of this former Soviet Republic are thought to be among 100 suspected al Qaeda fugitives captured by Pakistani troops in recent days in South Waziristan region, which borders Afghanistan.
Extradition's to Uzbekistan have proved controversial, however, as security forces in this Central Asian State have been accused of systematically torturing inmates and, thus, fanning the flames of extremism.
Those Uzbeks captured in Pakistan in recent days are thought to be remnants of the numerous militants who fled Karimov's secular state in the 1990s to join al Qaeda network based in neighbouring Afghanistan.
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