Saturday, August 27 2005 20:14 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: A day after granting consular access to Sarabjit Singh facing death sentence, Pakistan today (Aug 27, 2005) said it is prepared to discuss the issue of prisoners languishing in jails in each other's country during the two-day Home Secretary-level beginning August 29.

"Usually the agenda (of Indo-Pak Home Secretary-level talks) is terrorism and drug trafficking but this time we have requested that we would like to discuss the issue of prisoners held in both the countries," Pakistan's Home Secretary Syed Kamal Shah told reporters after arriving here for the talks.

To questions with regard to Sarabjit Singh, sentenced to death for his alleged involvement in the 1990 bomb blasts in Lahore and Multan, Shah, who is leading an 11-member delegation, said "let us see (what happens during the) discussions".

Terrorism and narco-trafficking will be the two issues high on the agenda of the Pakistan Interior Secretary's talks with his Indian counterpart V K Duggal from Monday. The two sides are likely to issue a joint statement at the end of the parleys on the issues, which are a part of the ongoing Composite Dialogue process, official sources said. Shah will also meet Home Minister Shivraj Patil on Monday.

In the past rounds, India had consistently raised the issue of use of Pakistani territory for fomenting terrorism and drug trafficking in South Asia. India also asked Pakistan to dismantle the terror infrastructure and honour the commitment by its President Pervez Musharraf in January 6, 2004 joint statement not to allow its territory for use by terrorist groups.

On Sunday, the Pakistani delegation will visit Agra and Ajmer.