New commission for Turkey-Pak agreements

The meeting of this commission will be help twice a year and minister-level meetings will be held once a year.

This was announced by Turkish Minister for Interior Abdul Kadir Aksu and federal Interior Minister Makhdoom Faisal Saleh Hayat while they were talking to journalists after they met at the Interior Ministry on Saturday.

The first meeting of this commission will be held in Islamabad in September and the second meeting will be held in Ankara next year.

They said that the commission would also develop modalities to act upon the agreements signed by President Pervez Musharraf during his visit to Turkey and the during the visit of the Turkish prime minister to Pakistan.

The Turkish interior minister said that Pakistani law enforcement officials would be trained in Ankara to eliminate the drug menace and illegal human smuggling.

He said both sides also agreed to enhance cooperation between their police departments and frequent visits by experts of both countries, particularly in the field of counter-terrorism, so that they could benefit from their counterparts’ expertise.

The Pakistani interior minister said that Army officers were involved in the attempts on President Pervez Musharraf’s life, but he refused to reveal the name of the officers.

He said that Pakistani law enforcement agencies had dismantled the Al-Qaeda network and a number of Al-Qaeda stalwarts had been arrested.

Earlier, the Turkish interior minister visited the Federal Investigation Agency’s headquarters. There he was briefed on what the agency does and the workings of the special squad that deals with terrorist threats.