Zardari meets Brown, says Pak seriously probing Mumbai attacks

H S Rao and Rezaul H Laskar

London/Islamabad, Aug 28 (PTI) Pakistan was "seriously
focussing" on the investigation into the Mumbai attacks but
its ties with India could not be held hostage to the 26/11
probe, President Asif Ali Zardari said during a meeting with
British Premier Gordon Brown in London Friday.

Zardari, who is in Britain on a three-day visit, met
Brown at 10, Downing Street and told him that Pakistan was
"seriously focussing on the Mumbai attacks' probe."

"...but as agreed in the joint statement at Sharm
el-Sheikh (after a meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani), the
bilateral relations between the two countries could not be
held hostage to the Mumbai probe," Zardari said during the
meeting.

A statement issued by presidential spokesman Farhatullah
Babar in Islamabad quoted Zardari as saying that the joint
statement of Sharm el-Sheikh "should provide necessary impetus
for the resumption of the Pakistan-India dialogue."

The joint statement last month had said that "action on
terrorism should not be linked to the composite dialogue
process and these should not be bracketed."

The two Prime Ministers had agreed that "terrorism is the
main threat to both countries." They also decided that both
would "share real time, credible and actionable information on
any future terrorist threats." (More) PTI RHL/HSR
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