ISLAMABAD, May 5: Pakistan is asking the United States to hand over about a dozen of its fugitives living there and release a handful of innocent Pakistanis detained in Guantanamo Bay for their alleged links with Al Qaeda.

A 10-member delegation led by Interior Minister Moinuddin Haider will be leaving here on a three-day visit to Washington on Tuesday to make a formal request to this effect, sources told Dawn.

The two sides will finalize details of an agreement for a long-term cooperation in the ongoing fight against terrorism. The agreement will cover exchange of information and evidence besides extradition of terrorists to each other.

The delegation will include the director-general of Federal Investigation Agency, director-general of the National Database and Registration Authority and head of the National Crisis Management Cell.

Inter-Service Public Relations Director-General Maj-Gen Rashid Qureshi confirmed that the interior minister was going to the United States but said he was not aware of the mandate the minister was taking along.

The delegation will also hold discussions with US Attorney-General John Ashcroft to finalize a course of action against terrorism in the backdrop of the recent regrouping of the Taliban in the Afghan provinces adjacent to the Pakistani border.

Assistant Secretary of State Christina Rocca, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, Counter-Terrorism Adviser Francis X. Taylor and the FBI director will also hold talks with the Pakistani team.

The delegation will inform the US authorities about the sensitivities and threat perceptions in case of the operation to be launched by the US or coalition forces against the Taliban elements in Waziristan and Mohmand Agencies.

Sources said the delegation would be carrying a list of 15 or so of its runaway citizens, including politicians and bureaucrats, who had siphoned off billions of rupees and now face court cases at home. They said the Pakistan government wanted to bring them back.

They said that except for the interior minister and Nadra director-general Salim Ahmad Moin, all the members of the delegation would also travel to the Camp X-Ray in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to interrogate hundreds of Pakistanis detained there with the Taliban and Al Qaeda members.

Later, Pakistan will seek release of those it considers innocent or who have no direct links with Al Qaeda and had, in fact, been influenced by the speeches of Ulema to join Jihad.

The two-sides will also discuss the US aid to Pakistan for training and equipping border security forces and civil armed forces with latest arms and equipment, including intelligence apparatus.

At present, the US is providing $70 million to Pakistan for the law and order agencies. Pakistan will be seeking further assistance, including the automated border control system, to check influx of terrorist elements into Pakistan.

Sources said the agenda of talks also included import of machine readable passports and possible use of Pakistani database by the US authorities.

Pakistan has assured the US authorities of its fullest cooperation to supply information relating to money laundering, and Hawala and Hundi besides terrorism-related information.

Issues relating to human trafficking, anti-narcotics and money laundering will also be discussed with particular reference to re-cultivation of poppy by some Afghan tribes due to economic difficulties in the aftermath of war in that country and its impact on neighbours.