ISLAMABAD, Feb 25: The foreign office has said that if someone has committed crimes against any other country and is caught in an anti-terror operation, the government priority would be to hand him over to his country of origin.

A Foreign Office spokesman was asked at his weekly press briefing on Tuesday about the "exact response" of Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri to a question asked on Feb 23 at a press conference as to whether Pakistan would hand over Osama bin Laden to the US if he was caught in Pakistan.

The spokesman claimed that some newspapers gave sensational headlines on the question of Osama bin Laden. When asked about the "exact response" of the foreign minister, the FO spokesman maintained that Pakistan had not changed its policy towards foreign suspects and their deportation to other countries.

Reading from a prepared statement, the spokesman said the foreign minister's response was as follows: "If someone has committed crimes against any other country and is caught in anti-terror operations, our priority is to hand him over to his country of origin. If that country does not ask for repatriation, then the terrorists are handed over to any country putting forward evidence to us."