New Delhi seeks more commitment from Islamabad on terrorism

New Delhi, June 26 : On the eve of Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi's maiden visit to India, New Delhi has raised concerns over rising infiltration and increase in terrorist violence in Jammu and Kashmir and other parts of the country.

Authoritative sources in the Ministry of External Affairs said, "While the government in Islamabad is more forthcoming on the economic front, we don't know how much it can do to curb terrorist activities."

Sources further added that there is much more room for the new government in Pakistan to put a lid on terrorist activities and we will judge the new regime attitude.

Third meeting of joint anti terror mechanism was concluded in Islamabad on Tuesday.

Qureshi's visit to India will be the second high level contact between Pakistan and India within the span of one-and-a-half month.

Last month Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee went to Islamabad to resume peace talks with our neighbour after a hiatus of more than a year.

Both countries have concluded four rounds of talks and the new coalition government in Islamabad has called for a grand reconciliation with India. Apart from meeting his counterpart Pranab Mukherjee, Qureshi will also be calling upon the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and former Prime Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) patriarch Atal Behari Vajpayee, the man who is credited for taking India-Pakistan relations to a new height.

While there are not many expectations in New Delhi of any major breakthrough on big issues like Siachen, Sir Creek and Jammu and Kashmir but New Delhi is optimistic that there will be some forward movement in liberalising the visa regime, increase in the number of pilgrims visiting shrines situated on both sides of the border.

India has also prepared a proposal on introducing more cross border confidence building measures and group of cross LoC Confidence Building Measures (CBM) is expected to meet soon.

South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), Security situation in Afghanistan and much talked about proposed peace pipeline between India-Pakistan and Iran might also figure on the high table of talks on Friday. By Naveen Kapoor

ANI