The US has approved the extradition of a suspect in the 2008 militant attacks in India’s financial capital Mumbai in which over 160 people were killed, President Donald Trump said on Thursday in a press conference with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The three-day attacks on hotels, a train station and a Jewish centre in which 166 people were killed began on November 26, 2008. India says militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba orchestrated the attacks.
“I am pleased to announce that my administration has approved the extradition of one of the plotters and one of the very evil people of the world, having to do with the horrific 2008 Mumbai terrorist attack to face justice in India. So he is going to be going back to India to face justice,” Trump told reporters at the White House.
Trump did not name the individual but media reports identified him as Chicago businessman and Canadian citizen Tahawwur Rana.
Late last month, the US Supreme Court rejected Rana’s review petition against his extradition.
Rana was previously sentenced to US federal prison for providing support to the Lashkar-e-Taiba.
Trump was also asked in the press conference about Sikh separatists in the United States, whom India calls security threats. Sikh separatists demand an independent homeland known as Khalistan to be carved out of India.
Trump did not respond directly to the question but said India and the US worked together on crime.
Since 2023, India’s alleged targeting of Sikh separatists in the US and Canada has emerged as a wrinkle in US-India ties, with Washington charging an ex-Indian intelligence officer in a foiled US plot. India says it is probing US allegations.
Trump offers top-end jets, trade deal to India
US President Donald Trump on Thursday offered to sell state-of-the-art fighter jets to India as he and Prime Minister Narendra Modi vowed to ramp up trade, rekindling a bond that defies the new US administration’s punitive approach to much of the world.
Modi, only the fourth world leader to visit the White House since Trump’s return, described the fellow nationalist as a friend and told him he was adopting a take on his “Make America Great Again” slogan.
Trump said that he found a “special bond” with Modi and India and, in an uncharacteristic if ironic show of humility, complimented Modi as being a “much tougher negotiator” than he is.
Successive US administrations have seen India as a key partner with like-minded interests in the face of a rising China, and Trump announced that the new administration was ready to sell one of the top US military prizes – F-35s.
“Starting this year, we’ll be increasing military sales to India by many billions of dollars,” Trump told a joint news conference with Modi.
“We’re also paving the way to ultimately provide India with the F-35 stealth fighters,” Trump said.
India would join an elite club of countries that include NATO allies, Israel and Japan that would be allowed to buy the F-35, which can operate without detection at supersonic speeds.
Continuing a push from his predecessor Joe Biden, Trump said that the two countries also planned investment in ports, railways and underseas cable to “build one of the greatest trade routes in all of history,” running from India to Israel to Europe and beyond.
Dangling tariffs
Trump has dueled with both friends and foes on economic issues. Hours before meeting, Trump announced reciprocal tariffs on all countries, including India.
Speaking next to Modi, Trump called India’s “unfair, very strong tariffs” a “big problem” but said that the two countries would hold negotiations to close a trade deficit in India’s favour.
Modi said that the world’s largest and fifth-largest countries would work on a “mutually beneficial trade agreement” to be sealed “very soon,” with a focus on oil and gas.
Joining Trump’s meeting with Modi was SpaceX and Tesla tycoon Elon Musk, who has launched an aggressive effort as Trump’s right-hand man to overhaul the US bureaucracy.
Modi also met one-on-one with Musk, raising questions over whether the world’s richest man was meeting the Indian leader in an official or business capacity.
The Indian premier posted pictures of himself shaking hands with the beaming Musk, with several children on Musk’s side of the room, and Indian officials on the other.
Modi, a prolific user of Musk-owned social media platform X, said later that he has known Musk since before he became prime minister.
Courting Trump
Modi offered quick tariff concessions ahead of his visit, with New Delhi slashing duties on high-end motorcycles – a boost to Harley-Davidson, the iconic US manufacturer whose struggles in India have irked Trump.
India has already accepted a US military flight carrying 100 shackled migrants last week as part of Trump’s immigration crackdown. The treatment drew protests from India’s opposition which accused Modi of sacrificing the dignity of citizens to please Trump.
Modi at the news conference vowed to keep cooperating, saying that undocumented Indians are being lured by human traffickers.
“Any verified Indian who is in the US illegally, we are fully prepared to take them back to India,” Modi said.
Trump in turn announced the United States would extradite to India a suspect in the bloody 2008 siege of Mumbai, whom he called “one of the very evil people in the world.”