India, Pakistan officials hold first anti-terror panel meet

Islamabad, Mar 6 (UNI) Senior Indian and Pakistan officials today held the first meeting of the Joint Anti-Terror Panel, on ways to bolster counter-terror cooperation by institutionalsing the process of sharing terror-related information.

Mr K C Singh, Additional Secretary in the External Affairs Ministry and his Pakistani counterpart Tariq Osman Hyder led their respective delegations at the meeting, held against the backdrop of Islamabad's demand for a joint probe into the recent Samjhauta Express fire-bombing, which killed 68 passengers, mostly Pakistanis.

Although, there was no official word available, it is believed the two sides spent most of the time discussing modalities to institutionalise mechanism for future cooperation in counter- terrorism.

The panel was finalised by chief Indian and Pakistan diplomats during their November round of talks in New Delhi, almost two months after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President General Pervez Musharraf agreed to put in place such a mechanism to identify and implement counter-terrorism initiatives and investigations.

''Since this is the first meeting of the group, it is very important for both the countries to approach it with a constructive mindset,'' Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Tasneem Aslam said ahead of the meeting, which was part of a series of measures taken by the two South Asian nations to build mutual trust and carry forward their ongoing composite dialogue.

The anti-terror panel met almost a week ahead of the meeting between Indian and Pakistan foreign secretaries, which will mark commencement of the fourth round of peace talks, resumed by the two countries in February 2004 to resolve all outstanding problems including the Jammu and Kashmir issue.

While officials in the foreign office were tight-lipped as to whether the two sides shared any information about the July 11, 2005 serial bombings in Mumbai and the Samjhauta Express inferno, they hoped the mechanism would help remove misunderstandings between the two countries in future and prevent derailment of the peace process.

India had blamed elements across the border for their involvement in Mumbai train blasts, which led to suspension of the peace process for almost two months.

However, Prime Minister Singh and President Musharraf decided to resume the dialogue during their meeting on the sidelines of NAM summit at Havana in September.

UNI