NEW YORK, March 23: The United States has reached agreement with Pakistan that British-born militant Ahmed Omar Sheikh would be handed over for trial to the US government once the Pakistani criminal justice system had run its course, the New York Times reported on Saturday, quoting Bush administration officials.

However, the officials acknowledged that there was no specific time-frame for his transfer, the paper said.

The officials, the paper said, were not alarmed by Pakistan’s announcement this week that it was formally charging the 28-year-old militant in the case rather than handing him over immediately to the United States.

Mr Sheikh is under American indictment in the kidnapping and slaying of a Wall Street Journal reporter, Daniel Pearl.

“We’ve worked out our differences with Pakistan,” a State Department official told the Times. “We’ve had discussions about how to proceed, including the idea that he would be extradited to the US immediately. But they are in possession of him. We’re not.”

Pakistani officials have said that their government may have resisted handing over Mr Sheikh immediately because of pressure brought by the Inter-Services Intelligence agency, which may fear that he would reveal links between the agency and extremist Muslim groups in Pakistan, the paper said.

Lawyers in Pakistan say they expect that after a trial there, Mr Sheikh will argue that he cannot be extradited to the United States to be tried for the same crime because that would amount to double jeopardy, which is barred by the Constitution.