PESHAWAR, Sept 18: The United States on Saturday handed over to Pakistan 34 prisoners released from the Guantanamo Bay detention facility in Cuba, Federal Minister for Interior Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao told newsmen here.

Mr Sherpao said that the prisoners were presently being debriefed and screened by a Joint Interrogation Team of various intelligence agencies at the Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi.

These prisoners were flown to Chaklala air base on board a US plane and handed over to the Pakistani authorities.

Seventeen of those released belonged to Punjab, six from Sindh, nine are from the NWFP and one each from Balochistan and the Azad Jammu and Kashmir. Interestingly, there is a person who claims to be an Afghan from the northern Kunduz province.

This is the single largest group of Pakistanis released from the US naval base at Guantanamo.

The interior minister said that about five or six Pakistani prisoners still remained at the US detention centre in Cuba and efforts were on to secure their release as soon as possible.

Commenting on concerns expressed by Afghan and American governments over Pakistani screening standards, he said the matter did not fall under his jurisdiction but screening of prisoners would be done properly.

ABDULLAH ZARQAVI: The interior minister confirmed the seizure of a Jordanian passport belonging to one Abdullah Khalid Mohammad Al Haj Zarqavi with a entry visa dated Oct, 1999 issued by the Pakistani embassy in Oman.