Khar terms Pak-India talks purposeful

A statement quoting the Foreign Minister said both sides had also agreed to convene technical working groups prior to the holding of Pakistan-India joint commission. Khar said Pakistan has positively evaluated the talks between Prime Ministers Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani and Manmohan Singh at Maldives on the sidelines of the SAARC summit. She said the talks had contributed to impel a seriousness of purpose to the process of engagement with both sides reaffirming their commitment to the pursuit of peace and discussing all outstanding issues including Jammu and Kashmir in a result oriented manner.The minister said both leaders noted terrorism as a common problem and said that instead of remaining mired in accusations and counter accusations, the real way forward was “cooperation”. She said Interior and Home Secretaries of the two countries had been mandated to discuss counter terrorism and counter narcotics. The foreign minister said that Mumbai, Samjhota and other terror related matters needed to be addressed by both sides in the Interior and Home ministries segment.Pakistan’s Interior minister was prepared to visit New Delhi and was awaiting dates for the visit from India. Pakistan also awaited dates for the visit of the judicial commission from India.