Stringent action against terror acts: Manmohan, Zardari

New York, Sep 25: India-Pakistan on Wednesday, Sep 24 vowed to take stringent action against 'terrorist acts'. Deeply hurt by the recent bombings in India and Pakistan, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari said that their respective governments will take the menace head on. Indian PM, in particular, took a strong stand against terrorism during their meeting in New York on the sidelines of the 63rd session of the UN General Assembly.

Both acknowledged that the peace process has been 'under strain' in recent months and decided to call a special meeting of the Joint Anti-Terror Mechanism in Oct. They also announced that cross-LoC trade in Jammu Kashmir will commence on Oct 21. The two leaders came out with a joint statement agreeing that violence, hostility and terrorism have no place in the vision they share of the bilateral relationship and must be 'visibly and verifiably' prevented.

President Zardari reassured PM that the Pak government stands by its commitment of Jan 6, 2004 in which former President General Pervez Musharraf had promised former Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee on the sidelines of the 12th SAARC Summit that Pakistan would not allow its land to be used for anti-India or terror-related activities.

Both the nations also decided to open the Wagah –Attari road link and Khokrapar-Munabao rail route to all permissible items of trade. The meeting between the Indian PM and Zardari went on for an hour and was warm. At the first instance, Zardari described Singh as the 'Father of Modern India'. Singh replied that he shared Zardari's vision for a better and improved South Asia to which Zardari said: "It is Benazir's Wisdom."

Manmohan congratulated Zardari on his election as president and hailed the victory of democracy in Pakistan.

OneIndia News