`India, Pak need to jointly fight nefarious forces of terror`

Rezaul H Laskar
Islamabad, Jan 20 (PTI) Seeking resumption of the peace
process and constructive engagement with India, Pakistan
Tuesday said it was committed to a "cooperative approach" to
bring the perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks to justice and
highlighted the need to jointly fight the "nefarious forces"
of terrorism.

It was "important for Pakistan and India to chart the way
forward on anti-terrorism cooperation," Foreign Minister Shah
Mahmood Qureshi told members of a Pakistani peace mission
scheduled to visit India.

He spoke of the "imperative need for an across-the-board
constructive bilateral engagement and resumption of the peace
process".

"Pakistan believes that sustained engagement and dialogue
is necessary to allay each other's concerns," Qureshi said.

He also called for cooperation between the two countries
to jointly fight the "nefarious forces of terrorism", which
are the common enemy of the people of India and Pakistan.

The India-Pakistan composite dialogue process, which
began in 2004, was put on hold by New Delhi in the wake of the
Mumbai terror attacks. India has so far rejected Pakistan's
calls for resuming the talks, saying it needs to do more to
bring perpetrators of the attacks to justice.

Qureshi told the members of peace mission that the
Pakistan government is committed to a "cooperative approach to
bring the perpetrators of the Mumbai incident to justice".

Pointing to the "considerable progress" made through the
composite dialogue towards confidence-building, bilateral
trade and people-to-people contacts, Qureshi said: "Breakdown
of dialogue only works to the advantage of the terrorists."

"Conflict, confrontation and tensions are exactly what
the terrorists want. We should not walk into their trap. It is
important to show statesmanship," he said.

Qureshi also briefed the members of the peace mission,
including prominent rights activists Asma Jahangir and I A
Rehman, on the measures Pakistan has taken in the wake of the
Mumbai attacks.

He lauded the members of the peace mission for their
efforts to promote better understanding between the two
countries. Qureshi hoped the forum will continue to come up
with innovative ideas and options for moving the peace process
forward.

The peace mission, which also includes Imtiaz Alam, A H
Nayyar and Rashid Rizvi, is part of a non-official dialogue
aimed at facilitating greater understanding between India and
Pakistan through exchanges and discussions among prominent
scholars and intellectuals. PTI