Terrorists shouldn't be allowed to define agenda for peace:Pak

I / Islamabad October 29, 2009, 16:26 IST

Pakistan today said the composite dialogue offers hope for a "meaningful engagement" with India to address issues like Kashmir and insisted that the two countries should not allow terrorists to define the agenda for peace and security in South Asia.

This was stated by the Foreign Office here, a day after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said in Anantnag in Jammu and Kashmir yesterday that India was ready to discuss all issues with Pakistan provided it curbed activities of those engaged in terrorism in India.

Responding to Singh's remarks, Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit described them as a "welcome reiteration of the understanding reached at the Sharm el-Sheikh summit between Pakistan and India" in July.

"It had been agreed (at Sharm el-Sheikh) that the dialogue process was the only way forward. We have always said that Pakistan and India should not allow terrorists and militants to define and drive the agenda on issues of peace, security and stability in South Asia," Basit said in a statement.

The composite dialogue process "offers hopes for a meaningful engagement to address these issues and most notably the Jammu and Kashmir dispute", he said.

"Pakistan will not be found wanting in sincere efforts to promote regional peace and stability and to make the peace process irreversible," Basit added.