Pak brushes aside Ahmadinejad's demand to hand over terrorists

Responding to a question on Ahmadinejad's demand, Foreign Office Spokesman Abdul Basit said Pakistan and Iran have bilateral mechanisms to address terrorism and trans-national organised crimes.

During a telephonic call to his Pakistani counterpart Asif Ali Zardari earlier this week, Ahmadinejad had asked him to "arrest and deliver" terrorists operating from Pakistani soil in the wake of a suicide attack in the Iranian city of Chabahar that killed nearly 40 people, an incident that has placed fresh strains in bilateral ties.

Ahmadinejad had asked Zardari to "commission the intelligence organ of his country to identify, arrest and deliver the well-known terrorists to the Islamic Republic of Iran to stand for a fair trial."

The attack was claimed by Sunni militant group Jundallah (Army of God), which Iran claims receives support from the intelligence services of Pakistan, Britain and the United States.