Special report: Pakistani Situation

    ISLAMABAD, Feb. 18 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan has made a formal request to India to hand over Ajmal Amir Kasab, the lone attacker arrested for the Mumbai attacks, an official said on Wednesday.

    The News Network International news agency quoted Deputy Attorney General Sardar Mohammad Ghazi as saying that Kasab was the "prime suspect" and it would be difficult to prosecute the other accused if he was not handed over to Pakistan.

    Sardar Mohammad Ghazi has been appointed as the special public prosecutor for the trial of Pakistani suspects linked to the Mumbai attacks.

    "The government of Pakistan has formally requested the Indian government to hand over the custody of Ajmal Kasab because he is the prime suspect and the rest of these suspects, they are abettors, they abetted the crime," Ghazi said.

    "I am sure the Indian government is going to look into it, the yare going to take a decision because without having the custody of Ajmal Kasab in Pakistan, I think it will be very, very difficult to prosecute the rest of the suspects," he said.

    India has so far ruled out the possibility of handing over Kasab to Pakistan.

    The Pakistani authorities have taken into custody six suspects, including Lashker-e-Taiba operatives Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi and Zarar Shah. However, the interior advisor Rehman Malik recently said they had not been "formally arrested," according to local press reports.