India, Pak sign nuke risk pact, to continue Sir Creek oil hunt

India and Pakistan today signed on a major confidence building measure--a pact to reduce the risk of accidents relating to nuclear weapons.

The agreement was signed in the presence of Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee and his Pakistani counterpart Khursheed Mehmood Kasuri.

The spirit of cooperation showed in other areas as well, with India reassuring Pakistan there would be no let-up in efforts to nab those behind the Samjhauta Express blasts and that joint surveys for hydrocarbons in the Sir Creek region would continue.

Mukherjee hoped the fourth round of composite dialogue in Islamabad on March 13 and 14 between the foreign secretaries of the two countries would improve relations further. He also hoped that the joint anti-terror mechanism meeting in Islamabad on March 6 would be meaningful.

Mukherjee said he handed over to Kasuri a list of relatives of missing Indian prisoners of war who wanted to visit Pakistan. The two also discussed the reports of eight working groups set up under the Joint Commission after its October 2005 meeting. The groups are working on cooperation in agriculture, health, science and technology, environment, education, tourism, IT and telecommunication.

Kasuri said protection of tourists from both the countries was important for "sustaining" the peace process. "We have to take steps to protect tourists if we wish to promote tourism," Kasuri said.

Mukherjee recalled that the issue of tourist visas had figured in his discussions with the Pakistan authorities during his last visit there. The Indian government, he added, was examining the draft proposal from Pakistan on this.

Asked if there was possibility of a joint probe into the Samjhauta bombings, Mukherjee said investigations would be done by the Indian authorities in accordance with the "law of the land," but information would be shared with Pakistan at the next month's meeting of the joint mechanism.

"The prime minister of India spoke to the prime minister of Pakistan and assured him that results of the investigations would be shared. The joint mechanism is meeting in Islamabad on March 6 and I have no doubt that they will take cognisance," Kasuri said.

He added Prime Minister Manmohan Singh too, during his telephonic talk with his Pakistani counterpart Shaukat Aziz on Monday, had assured that results of the probe would be shared. Kasuri hoped the Samjhauta attack would be "high on the agenda" of the anti-terror mechanism.

Asked by a Pakistani journalist about Haryana Police blaming Lashker-e-Toiba (LeT) for the blasts, Mukherjee said the probe was still on and he did not want to "conjecture anything."