ISTANBUL: Pakistan and Afghanistan decided on Wednesday to launch a biometric system at their border from the last week of November this year.
In a meeting held here, Minister for Interior Rehman Malik and his Afghan counterpart, Bismillah Khan Muhammadi, agreed that both countries would jointly work to control illegal border crossing and the elimination of terrorism. Rehman Malik said that Pakistan desired peace and stability in Afghanistan, which was linked to progress and prosperity in the region. The minister also held a meeting with Turkish Interior Minister Idrees Naeem Shaheen and both sides decided to constitute a joint task force to check the illegal immigration of Pakistanis to Turkey.
The task force would look into matters relating to deportation of illegal immigrants and inform Pakistani authorities about them, so that legal action could be taken against them. Both sides also agreed that Turkey would provide modern training to Pakistan’s police and other concerned agencies so as to check human smuggling.
