India, Pak agree to set up joint anti-terror mechanism

India and Pakistan have decided on the shape of Joint Mechanism on Terror (JMT), first mooted in Havana when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh met Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf on the sidelines of the NAM summit.

The JMT can be seen as the only concrete achievement of the foreign secretary-level talks between the two countries which ended today.

The JMT will be a three-member anti-terror mechanism to be headed by additional secretary (international organisations) from the ministry of external affairs in India and the additional secretary (UN and EC) from the Pakistani foreign ministry. Its mandate would be to consider counter terrorism measures, including regular and timely sharing of information.

On the question of whether evidence linking Pakistan to the acts of terror in Mumbai and other Indian cities was handed over to Pakistan, Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon said, "In cases where investigations have been substantial and chargesheets filed, evidence has been handed. However, evidence related to Mumbai was not handed over because of legal impediments."

Pakistan Foreign Secretary Riaz Mohammad Khan raised objections to linking of the state of Pakistan to every terror act in India, saying that Pakistan was as much a victim of terror as India or other countries.

"Within 15 minutes of the Mumbai blasts, Pakistan's name was mentioned in connection with it. Nowhere in Asia can we see this kind of efficiency," he said. To this Menon said that "we will move away from exchanging allegations in public."

However, he also said there were "elements in Pakistan which not only assisted but also incited terror against India, we want stronger action against them."

Menon described the talks as successful despite the fact that certain impediments remained in the finalisation of an agreement on reducing risks of accidents relating to nuclear weapons.

"I would term the talks as being successful because we have finalised the shape of the joint terror mechanism, we have spoken on issues which concern us, and agreed to a lot of forward steps," he said.

Some of the forward steps that Menon refers to include holding a meeting of experts on December 22 and 23 to decide on a joint survey of Sir Creek and adjoining areas, to promote friendly exchanges between the two countries, Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee's proposed visit to Islamabad next month and for the foreign secretaries themselves to meet in February 2007.

On Siachen, despite Pakistan Foreign Minister Khursheed Mahmood Kasuri's predictions of a breakthrough, both foreign secretaries admitted that a solution was not on the horizon.