An Interpol delegation -- led by the body's chief Ronald K Noble -- is in Pakistan to seek its cooperation to help identify terrorists worldwide, including those involved in the November 26 attacks on Mumbai, and to enhance cooperation in the war on terror.
The delegation is scheduled to take up these matters with Interior Ministry chief Rehman Malik, a close aide of President Asif Ali Zardari, and other senior officials on Tuesday. The team is visiting Pakistan to seek the country's 'agreement to work through Interpol to help identify terrorists worldwide, including those behind the deadly November 26-29 terrorist bombings in Mumbai', said a statement from Interpol.
It will discuss the ways in which Interpol can work with Pakistan 'in relation to the Mumbai bombings to enhance regional and global investigative efforts on the terrorist attacks'.
The team will 'enhance cooperation in the fight against terrorism in the wake of the September 20 suicide truck bombing at the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad', the statement said.
It will provide a classified briefing to Pakistani officials on the Marriott Hotel bombing which killed nearly 60 people, including the Czech envoy and two US Marines. The briefing will ascertain 'what additional intelligence about the suspects can be shared with Interpol's other 186 member countries'.
Interpol will also discuss the organisation's offer to deploy its advanced technology to secure Pakistan's borders by next year. The technology, known as MIND/FIND, enables immigration officials to carry out direct screening of passports and identity documents on a real-time basis against Interpol's global database of over 16 million stolen and lost travel documents.
The team will also discuss the possibility of Pakistan seconding a police officer to Interpol's General Secretariat in Lyon, France to share expertise with the world police community.
'It is only the sharing of critical police information on terrorism through Interpol's global tools and services, including its databases on wanted persons and lost or stolen travel documents, that can help countries to protect themselves from events such as the Marriott and Mumbai bombings in Pakistan and India respectively,' Noble said, after meeting the Director General of Pakistan's Federal Investigative Agency, Tariq Parvez, on Monday.
Noble travelled to Pakistan after a visit to India, where he met Home Minister P Chidambaram to review Interpol's investigative and counter-terrorism assistance following the Mumbai attacks.
