ISLAMABAD: Describing terrorism as a "common menace," Pakistan has agreed to fight it jointly with India and gave a commitment for maintaining ceasefire along the Line of Control (LoC). After extensive talks between External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mahmood Qureshi, the two sides also reported progress on Kashmir, Siachen and Sir Creek issues and expressed willingness to push forward the confidence building measures, including those related to Jammu and Kashmir.

The two sides signed an agreement for consular access to prisoners with a desire to address this humanitarian issue. "We agreed that terrorism is a common menace and should be fought jointly," Qureshi told a press conference after his talks with Mukherjee to review the fourth round of Composite Dialogue and set the tone for the next round to begin in July.

 In this direction, he said the Joint Anti Terror Mechanism (JATM) will be activated so that terror incidents "do not affect our ties." He referred to the Jaipur bomb blasts and condemned them "from the heart because Pakistan itself has been a victim of terrorism" with even former Premier Benazir Bhutto falling victim to it." Meeting with Musharraf Earlier Mukherjee called on President Pervez Musharraf at the Aiwan-e-Sadr or presidency.

Musharraf said at the meeting that India and Pakistan need to move from "conflict management" to "conflict resolution" through more confidence building measures, settlement of outstanding disputes and promotion of economic cooperation. Reaffirming Pakistan's resolve to "peacefully address all outstanding issues with India", Musharraf told Mukherjee that there is a "need for an early and durable settlement" of the Kashmir dispute in "accordance with the wishes of the Kashmiri people". Mukherjee was accompanied by External Affairs Secretary Shivshankar Menon.

Noting the "positive contribution" of the composite dialogue process to the improvement of bilateral relations, Musharraf said both countries have agreed on a number of confidence-building measures and there is "a need to sustain and consolidate this process". Emphasizing the need for an early and durable settlement of the Kashmir issue, Musharraf "stressed the need for associating the Kashmiri people in the dialogue process", said an official statement.

While also calling for addressing the Siachen and Sir Creek issues, Musharraf said there was "a need to move from conflict management to conflict resolution through more confidence-building measures, settlement of outstanding disputes, economic and commercial cooperation and people-to-people contacts".

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