The Hindu : Front Page : India, Pakistan to share evidence on 7/11 blasts

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Aug 01, 2006

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India, Pakistan to share evidence on 7/11 blasts

Amit Baruah

Foreign Secretaries feel the peace process must not be affected

DHAKA: India and Pakistan have agreed to share information on the July 11 Mumbai blasts, Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran said late on Monday after a meeting with his Pakistani counterpart Riaz Mohammad Khan.

Asked if India had proposed a fresh set of dates for the Foreign Secretary-level talks, suspended in the wake of the blasts, Mr. Saran said: "We have agreed that we will remain in touch with each other."

"On my part, I have conveyed our concerns with respect to the issue of terrorism. We have both agreed that the peace process between the two countries is important and all possible efforts should be made to see that this process is not adversely affected," he said after an hour-long meeting with Mr. Khan.

Asked if Pakistan had responded to Indian concerns on terrorism, Mr. Saran said Islamabad felt it was doing everything possible to control these elements. "We have expressed our concerns [on terrorism] and we hope these will be properly addressed."

Mr. Khan said he discussed everything with Mr. Saran — where the two countries stood with respect to the peace process — how they should move forward. "It was a positive, good meeting. The peace process is important for both countries and that is something I found my counterpart also believes in ... there is no other option but to pursue it."

According to him, if there were any leads on the Mumbai blasts, then Pakistan was ready to cooperate with the investigation. "That position remains."

SAARC meeting

Earlier in the day, at a meeting of South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Foreign Secretaries, India spoke about the implications of the blasts.

Mr. Saran told newspersons that the issue of terrorism was important for all SAARC countries and that there was a need for cooperation among all following the Mumbai and Srinagar blasts.

"We continue to believe that no cause justifies the murder of innocent men, women and children," he said.

He said the peace process could make progress only in an atmosphere that was free from terrorism and violence.

Islamabad maintained that the peace process and the problem of terrorism were not linked.

"The peace process is in the interests of Pakistan, India and the region. It should not be seen as a favour one country is doing to the other," Pakistan Foreign Ministry spokesperson Tasneem Aslam said here.

"There is absolutely no cross-border terrorism," she said, rebutting the charges that India had repeatedly made against Pakistan.

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