India, Pak, US must come together to fight terror: Bush

New Delhi, Mar 02: US President George W Bush today )Mar 02, 2006) said India, Pakistan and the United State must come together to fight terrorism and asked the two South Asian neighbours to make progress on all outstanding issues including Kashmir.

"The bombing in Karachi is not going to prevent me from going to Pakistan", Mr Bush told a joint news conference with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

The Karachi bombing this morning is an indication that the war on terror was on, he said urging that the three nations "must come together to fight terrorism".

The terrorists have no conscience and it is difficult to reason with them, he said. "They must be brought to justice", he added.

"We should defeat the ideology of terror with the ideology of hope and democracy", he said.

It is possible for people of different faiths to live together "precisely as this great democracy has shown to the world", the US President said referring to the multicultural society of India.

Mr Bush said he was briefed on the bombing in which at least one US national was killed. "We have sent our condolences to the family of the US victim and also to the people of Pakistan". He said he would discuss with Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf the issue of terrorism. "After all he has a direct stake in this fight. Four times the terrorists have tried to kill him". It was important to talk to General Musharraf and also important to work with him in the fight against the scourge of terrorism, the US President added.

He said the call of history is to stand strong in the face of the attacks.

Mr Bush said both Washington and New Delhi have been sharing intelligence on terrorism to protect each other.

The US President is leaving for Pakistan at the end of a three-day visit to India on March 4.

On the resolution of the Kashmir issue, he said the United States wants the two countries to work towards resolving all issues, including Kashmir.

UNI