India and Pakistan Tuesday decided to work on release of some prisoners languishing in each other's jails as part of a humanitarian gesture.

The understanding was reached on the concluding day of the two- day home secretary level talks between the two countries.

India's home secretary V. K. Duggal, who led the Indian side, and Pakistan's interior secretary Syed Kamal Shah, who headed the Pakistani delegation, were in the process of finalizing a joint statement which will deal with issues like combating terrorism and drug trafficking besides reflecting the desire of the two countries on release of prisoners.

India on Monday had handed over to Pakistan a list of nearly 30 wanted people, including international criminal Dawood Ibrahim and others, seeking their deportation to face trial in this country.

Pakistan also gave India a list of 37 wanted persons alleging they were in India and mostly involved in the drug trafficking offenses. The names in the Pakistani list were not immediately available.

India has also sought extradition of five hijackers of its IC- 814 flight, which was taken to Kandhar after some Islamic guerrillas hijacked the Indian Airlines' flight from Nepal's Tribhuvan international airport in December 1999.

Source: Xinhua