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| India, Pakistan seal anti-terror deal | | | New Delhi, Nov 15
India and Pakistan have agreed to activate a joint anti-terror mechanism and were likely to make an announcement in this regard at the conclusion of a two-day round of peace talks in New Delhi on Wednesday, Indian media outlets reported.
The final composition of the anti-terror group would be decided during discussions between Indian Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon and his Pakistani counterpart Riaz Mohamed Khan on Wednesday, the leading daily reported.
Leading dailies reported that Khan and Menon had agreed that the mechanism would be headed by additional secretaries from their respective foreign ministries.
KC Singh, additional secretary and counter-terrorism co-ordinator in India's foreign affairs ministry, and his Pakistani counterpart Tariq Osman Haider would lead the group, the Times of India reported.
The group would allow for sharing of information and preventing terror attacks in each other's countries.
Under the mechanism, India and Pakistan would set up internal groups with members of intelligence and security agencies to ensure a quick response. Both sides would be committed to respond to requests in ongoing investigations besides sharing intelligence inputs, the Express said.
The anti-terror group was announced in September after a summit between Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf who had then decided to resume the peace talks that were suspended by India in the wake of Mumbai train bombings.
The foreign-secretary talks were originally scheduled for July 21, but were postponed by New Delhi, which blamed Pakistan spy agency the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and Muslim militants for the July 11 blasts that killed 186 people.
Terrorism was the focus area of the parleys on Tuesday as the Indian side gave evidence on alleged Pakistani linkages to terrorist attacks in India, including the Mumbai bombings and asked Islamabad to cooperate in the fight against terror.
The two sides also discussed confidence-building measures, including new transport links in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, which is at the heart of tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbours.
During the talks on Wednesday, Khan and Menon were also expected to discuss the border dispute of Siachen glacier in Kashmir, considered the world's highest battleground at 6 400 metres. Pakistan's Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri has expressed optimism that a solution to Siachen was possible "within days." India and Pakistan have fought three wars and have had hostile relations since their independence from Britain in 1947.The neighbours started peace talks in February 2004 to deal with eight issues, including the dispute over Kashmir that has been bedevilling bilateral ties.Though the dialogue had not made any headway on key issues of cross-border terrorism or Kashmir, analysts said the current talks were significant as they indicated that the peace process between the South Asian neighbours had not broken down.
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