ISLAMABAD, Aug 8: Islamabad has alerted Tehran that runaway leaders and members of Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), which has been declared a proscribed organisation in Pakistan, may try to sneak into Iran.

“Even though there is no proof of any BLA men having taken refuge in Iran, we have given them intimation in this regard so that they remain alert,” Secretary Interior Syed Kamal Shah told newsmen here on Tuesday.

Mr Shah had returned to the country two days ago after attending a Joint Working Group (JWG) meeting of Pakistan and Iran.

He said that Pakistan and Iran were worried about illegal cross-border movement between the two countries.

He disclosed that Pakistan had provided a list of 10 most-wanted terrorists likely to be hiding in Iran.

To a question, he said Iran had also sought arrest of one Abdul Rehman Regi, wanted in cases of killing and kidnapping of Iranians. He said they were showed a video-tape of Regi and his associates slaughtering an abducted Iranian near Pakistan-Iran border area in Balochistan.

To another question, the secretary interior said at least 94 Pakistanis were languishing in Iranian jails. Similarly, Iranians were also imprisoned in Pakistani jails, he added.

During the JWP meeting, it was decided to grant consular access to the prisoners on reciprocal basis, he said.

Mr Shah said the two-day JWG meeting between interior ministries of the two countries, held after a gap of three years, discussed wide ranging issues including border controls, terrorism, exchange of prisoners, human trafficking and drug smuggling.

He said the two sides underscored the need to further strengthen bilateral ties to combat terrorism, human smuggling and drug trafficking.

Recognizing that terrorism poses a big threat to both the countries, the meeting resolved to closely cooperate with each other in combating the menace through exchange of information and intelligence, he said.

The meeting appointed focal persons in Pakistan’s FIA and Iran’s Directorate General of Law Enforcement for exchange of information on human trafficking, he said, adding that it was also decided that the FIA director general and the concerned Iranian official would meet every six months for better coordination to combat human trafficking.

On drug-trafficking, the secretary interior said the two sides expressed satisfaction over the existing cooperation and agreed to boost it further.

The meeting appointed focal persons to ensure implementation of the decisions and agreement reached during the special security committee meetings, he said. Iran’s director general for Border Affairs and Smuggling and Pakistan’s additional secretary Ministry of Interior had been nominated in this regard, he added.