July 24, 2008	Thursday	Rajab 20, 1429

ISLAMABAD, July 23: A agreement signed by Iran’s acting interior minister Seyed Mehdi Hashemi and adviser to the prime minister on interior Rehman Malik on Tuesday provides for extradition of criminals after meeting legal requirements.

An official of the interior ministry told Dawn on Wednesday the Iranian minister had demanded extradition of 16 people allegedly involved in the kidnapping of 17 Iranian nationals last month.

The Iranian side also wanted to determine the nationality of 16 criminals under the custody of judicial authorities in Pakistan. “If it is proved that they are Iranian nationals, their extradition will be considered after due process of law,” the official said.

The Iranian minister was assured that effort would be made for the recovery of the kidnapped Iran nationals.

The two sides also provided each other lists of prisoners to be exchanged. There are 190 Iranian prisoners in Pakistan and 140 Pakistanis detained in Iran.

The two countries decided to strengthen the existing mechanism of border security and called for the formation of a joint border commission and activation of a secretary-level special committee on security.

They also stressed the need for holding regular meetings of the ministerial commission on security.

The director-general of Pakistan’s FIA will act as the focal person in counter-terrorism efforts.

Iranian officials promised to consider Pakistan’s suggestions for cooperation in crude oil supply and refining and for promotion of trade, commerce and tourism.

The government of Pakistan, it may be mentioned, has already taken a serious note of smuggling of petrol and diesel to Iran and Afghanistan and the interior ministry has asked chief secretaries, inspectors-general of police and inspectors-general of the Frontier Corps in the NWFP and Balochistan to take effective measures to curb it.