ISLAMABAD, Aug 3: Pakistan has decided to join the International Convention on the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings of Jan 12, 1998, and to sign the OIC Convention on Combating International Terrorism, a foreign office spokesman said on Monday.

The relevant instruments of accession and signature, signed by President Musharraf, are being forwarded to the Pakistan missions in New York and Jeddah.

The Instrument of Accession to the International Convention on the Suppression of Terrorist Bombing would be deposited with the UN secretary-general and the Instrument of Signature of the OIC Convention on Combating International Terrorism would be deposited with the General Secretarial of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) in Jeddah, the spokesman added.

He said the decision shows the high priority that Pakistan attached to combating international terrorism. With this decision, Pakistan was now a party to 10 out of the 12 international instruments and the OIC convention on terrorism. The remaining two international instruments on terrorism — the Convention on the Marking of Plastic Explosives for the Purpose of Detection and the International Convention for Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism — are under active consideration.