Pakistani officials to visit Guantanamo in July

ISLAMABAD, June 30 (Reuters) Pakistani officials plan to visit the US detention centre at Guantanamo Bay next month to check how many of their citizens are being held, Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao said today.

In a rebuke of President George W Bush's tactics in the war on terrorism, the U.S. Supreme Court yesterday found the military tribunals set up to try Guantanamo prisoners were illegal and violated Geneva Conventions and US military rules.

Sherpao said Pakistan had asked the US government to provide consular access to its citizens held in Guantanamo Bay and was trying to secure their release.

''They (the U.S) have agreed and our team will be going there from 19 to 21st July,'' the minister told reporters.

Sherpao said there was some confusion over the number of Pakistanis held at Guantanamo, as the latest figure of 29 does not tally with earlier figures.

The minister said the discrepancy probably meant more Pakistanis were being held at the US airbase at Bagram in Afghanistan, and Pakistani officials would also seek access there.

Pakistan, a key ally of the US in the war on terror, arrested about 700 al Qaeda and Taliban activists and handed them over to US authorities.

The US military opened Guantanamo as a prison camp for suspected Islamic militants in 2002, mostly suspected al Qaeda members captured in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The prison has drawn strong criticism from foreign governments and rights groups ever since.

Reuters SHB RS2033