Gilani offers to step up intelligence cooperation with India

Rezaul H Laskar
Islamabad, Feb 16 (PTI) Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf
Raza Gilani Tuesday offered to enhance cooperation with India
in the field of intelligence to avert attacks like the Pune
blast that could "further the agenda of terrorists" who were
holding the bilateral ties "hostage".
Gilani made the remarks during a meeting with visiting US
Senator John Kerry, the Chairman of the powerful Senate
Foreign Relations Committee.
He also expressed Pakistan's "strong commitment to
resolve all core issues between the two countries through
peaceful means and composite dialogue."
"The Prime Minister condoled the loss of lives in the
recent terrorist incident in Pune (a western Indian city) and
expressed his government's readiness to enhance cooperation in
intelligence fields with India to ward the possibility of any
such untoward incident which could only further the agenda of
terrorists," said a statement issued by the Prime Minister's
House.
The February 13 blast in a Pune bakery, the first major
terror strike in India since the 2008 Mumbai attacks, had left
10 people dead and 57 injured.
"Pakistan had made progress in bringing the perpetrators
of the Mumbai incident to justice and was determined not to
allow use of its soil for any terrorist activity against any
of its neighbours," Gilani said.
He said Pakistan stood by the joint declaration issued
after his meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at Sherm
el-Sheikh in July last year.(More) PTI