Kasuri commends Indo-Pak secretary-level talks

Islamabad, Nov 16 (UNI) Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri today hailed the progress achieved during the Foreign Secretary-level talks held in New Delhi even as he underlined that the material provided to his country pertaining to its alleged involvement in the terror strikes in India needed to be ''concrete''.

''It is a step forward,'' Kasuri said in reference to the progress made on some of the vital issues including cooperation in counter-terrorism and finalisation of a nuclear safety pact.

Talking to mediapersons here this afternoon, the Foreign Minister said he had every reason to feel ''encouraged'', especially after Foreign Secretary Riaz Muhammad Khan briefed him about the talks.

''I hope that there will be further progress in all areas during future interactions between the two countries,'' he noted.

In addition to finalising a safety pact to limit the risk of accidental nuclear conflict, the two foreign secretaries also agreed to set up a six-member panel on counter-terrorism and to the early start of a truck service across the Line of Control (LoC).

On the anti-terror mechanism and the information that Indian Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon shared with his Pakistani counterpart about alleged involvement of Pakistani nationals in terror attacks in India, Mr Kasuri said, ''Let us not be propagandists. Incidents of terrorism take place not just in India but in Pakistan also.'' he said and added that it was therefore, not the one-sided interest.

However, he stressed that any evidence that was provided to Pakistan had to be ''concrete''.

Describing the agreement on setting up of anti-terror panel as a ''good start'', the Foreign Minister hoped the arrangement would succeed, depending on political will in the two countries.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf had agreed to put in place the joint institutional mechanism on counter-terrorism during their meeting at Havana on the sidelines of the NAM summit in September.

About his upcoming trip to India, Mr Kasuri did not rule out a meeting with his Indian counterpart Pranab Mukherjee despite private nature of the visit.

He said a formal meeting between him and Mr Mukherjee was expected in January, adding he looked forward to receiving Mr Mukherjee in Pakistan.

''Since this will be the first interaction between two of us, it is also going to be a meeting to get to know each other,'' he said.

UNI XC KD MIR RAI2011