NEW DELHI, March 21: Top investigators from India and Pakistan met on Tuesday for the first time in 17 years in a bid to check crime and smuggling, officials said. Vijay Shanker, director of India’s Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), headed the Indian side, while a delegation from Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency was led by director general Tariq Pervez.
“The talks will cover issues of concern for the two agencies including human trafficking, arms smuggling, immigration-related matters, narcotics-related crime, criminal syndicates,” an Indian foreign ministry statement said.
India is likely to take up the cases of Interpol warrants against militants it says are based in Pakistan, officials said.
CBI officials declined to give an agenda on the first of two days of “technical level” talks in New Delhi.
India has been pressing for the extradition of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, allegedly based in Pakistan and wanted in connection with deadly blasts which killed more than 250 people in Mumbai in 1993.
Islamabad denies his presence in Pakistan.
Officials were also expected to discuss setting up a body on the lines of Interpol in seven South Asian countries.
The two countries started a slow-moving peace process two years ago and are working through multi-layered confidence building measures. –AFP
APP ADDS: “We have come with an open mind. The meeting is taking place after a long gap of 17 years. The objective is to know each other and priorities of respective organisations,” Mr Pervez told APP’s special correspondent on Monday.
In response to a question, he said that problems relating to immigration, counterfeit currency, human trafficking and other issues would be discussed during the talks.
Mr Shanker had earlier told Indian media that the talks were “an indication of improving relations between India and Pakistan”. “The meeting will go a long way in expediting mutual interests in the areas of cyber crime, economic offences, drug related crimes, human trafficking.”
He said further that his agency would be proposing cooperation in setting up a Saarcpol (police of South Asian countries) to tackle trans-border narcotic smuggling, human trafficking and organised crimes.
“We would like to emphasise on the Pakistani idea to have an institution like Saarcpol (police of all Saarc countries) which could later lead to the formation of Asiapol on the pattern of Europol,” he said.
