Indo-Pak sleuths to hold talks tomorrow

The two-day technical level talks between India's Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Pakistan's Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) will be held after a gap of nearly 17 years.

"The last contact with the FIA was in 1989 on the sidelines of home secretary level talks and at that time the former CBI director, AP Mukherjee, visited Pakistan. We intend to revive contacts and see if we can build on the positives," said a senior CBI official.

A four-member team headed by FIA director Tariq Parvez is expected to arrive in Delhi late Monday.

"This visit is path-breaking and we hope to make the best of these talks," said the CBI source.

Senior CBI officials said that both sides were expected to appoint nodal officers for future interactions and also discuss issues relating to Interpol related matters.

"Clearly, we are meeting after a long time. The first day of talks will be exploratory but we will get down to critical issues once we have broken the ice," said the CBI source.

CBI officials did not want to comment whether the issue of wanted persons in the 1993 serial blasts in Mumbai would be taken up during the talks but hinted that it would depend on how the deliberations progressed.

India had forwarded a list of 20 most wanted criminals to Pakistan in 2002, including mob boss Dawood Ibrahim, Tiger Memon and Mohammed Dossa - all wanted for the '93 blasts - who have reportedly taken refuge there.