Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed on Thursday met with the US State Department’s Deputy Assistant Secretary for Pakistan Affairs Lesslie C. Viguerie, reported 24News HD TV channel. 

They discussed the matters related to the Pak-America relationship during the meeting. They discussed a wide range of issues like the release of Omar Sheikh, the accused of the murder of US journalist Daniel Pearl, human and drug smuggling. 

Lesslie C. Viguerie lauded Pakistan’s efforts for curbing drug smuggling. He said they wanted to enhance the efforts for stoppage of human and drug smuggling. The US State Department’s deputy assistant secretary said that International Narcotics and Law Enforcement (INL) was helping different law enforcement agencies in this regard.

Sheikh Rasheed said that the government had enforced two new laws for the stoppage of human and drug smuggling. He said the fencing on the Pak-Aghan border was proving very helpful in this regard. He told that Pakistan had arrested 2000 persons involved in human smuggling last year, adding that such elements would not be spared at any cost.  He said Pakistan had very strict law regarding the elimination of drugs from society. He said they welcomed any positive suggestion for the elimination of drugs. 

Lesslie C. Viguerie said that the US was seriously concerned about the release of Omar Sheikh. The interior minister told him that the Federal and Sindh governments had filed petitions against the release of Omar Sheikh. He said the final decision would come from the Supreme Court. The US official said that they admire the efforts of Pakistan against the release of Umar Sheikh.