India handed over a list of nearly 30 wanted people, including underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Maulana Masood Azhar and United Liberation Front of Asom supremo Paresh Barua, to Pakistan on Monday, seeking their deportation to face trial here.
The list, which also included names of Dawood associate Chhota Shakeel and Rawalpindi-based Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin, was handed over by Union Home Secretary V K Duggal to his Pakistani counterpart Syed Kamal Shah on the opening day of the two-day Home Secretary-level talks in New Delhi.
Dawood, who has been declared a global terrorist by the United States, is wanted in India in connection with 1993 Mumbai serial blasts and other serious crimes.
Pakistan also gave India a list of 37 "wanted" persons, alleging they were in India and mostly involved in alleged drug trafficking offences.
The names in the Pakistani list were not immediately avaiable. Masood Azhar was one of the terrorists released by India in return for safety of the passengers of the hijacked Indian Airlines plane to Kandahar, Afghanistan, in 1999 from where he went to Pakistan.
Paresh Barua has been reportedly shuttling between Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Among other names in the Indian list are Khalistan Commando Force chief Paramjit Singh Panjwar, Babbar Khalsa International leader Wadhawa Singh and Lakhbir Singh, head of another Punjab terrorist group and two men--Ishaq Atta Hussain and Sagir Sabir Ali Shaikh--who allegedly wanted to target Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil.
Duggal, who is holding talks with the Pakistani delegation led by Shah, said a joint statement would be issued on Tuesday after the conclusion of the talks which are a part of the ongoing Indo-Pak composite dialogue process.
Emerging from an hour-long meeting both the delegations had with Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil, Shah described his talks as "very very useful" and "positive" saying "we are sincerely committed to taking care of the issues and problems that exist.
"If India is peaceful and India is secure, we feel Pakistan will be peaceful. If Pakistan is peaceful, India should feel that it would be peaceful. So, we have to work for this objective and we feel we are in the right direction," the Pakistan Interior Secretary said.