Thursday, July 8, 2004
Pakistan, China to set up anti-terror hotline
Agence France-Presse Islamabad, July 7
Pakistan and China will set up a hotline to share intelligence in the fight against terrorism, a high-level delegation said on return from Beijing on Wednesday.
The telephone link will connect the Pakistani interior ministry and the Chinese ministry of public security, said Brigadier Javed Cheema, head of Pakistan's National Crisis Management Cell.
"The talks with the Chinese officials were highly successful and the two countries have decided to set up a hotline for speedy exchange of intelligence information," Cheema told AFP.
China had also agreed to set up a modern DNA testing laboratory in Pakistan and provide equipment to help boost Islamabad's security apparatus, he said.
Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat led the three-member delegation that included Additional Secretary Interior, Abdur Rauf and Cheema.
A Chinese delegation will visit Islamabad later this month to finalise details, Cheema added.
In the past China has been concerned over the presence of fugitives from its northwestern Xinjiang region taking refuge in Pakistan tribal regions bordering Afghanistan.
In October, Pakistani military killed China's most wanted "terrorist" Hasan Mahsum, during an anti-terror operation in its rugged South Waziristan tribal region.
Mahsum was on top of China's list of so-called terrorists containing the names of 11 ethnic Uighur Muslim separatists from Xinjiang.
© HT Media Ltd. 2004.