Missing engineer Fasih is in a Saudi jail, says government

New Delhi: Missing engineer from Bihar, Fasih Mahmood, is in a jail in Saudi Arabia, according to the Indian government.  Bringing him back, where he is wanted for alleged links to several terror attacks, will be a lengthy and complicated process, the government informed the Supreme Court.

35-year-old Mahmood's status has turned into a legal battle because his wife says he was picked up by Indian intelligence officials on May 13 from their apartment in Saudi Arabia, where he had been working for five years. Nikhat Parveen, Fasih's wife, asked the Supreme Court to order the government to share information about her husband, who is originally from Bihar.

The court asked the government to report in two weeks on its efforts to bring him to Delhi.  The government says that the CBI is working on this, but his extradition will be a lengthy and complicated process.

It took India a year of hard negotiation and diplomatic tact to convince Saudi Arabia to deport Abu Jundal, an Indian who played a key role in 26/11. Jundal was sent to Delhi last month and is being interrogated about the Mumbai attacks. Sources say Pakistan leaned hard on Saudi Arabia to resist the joint demand by India and the Us for Jundal's deportation.