Govt's claim of breakthrough in talks with Pakistan laughable: Congress|

The Congress party on Friday said the Central Government's claim of breakthrough in talks with Pakistan is laughable.

"The Government's claims of breakthrough in talks with Pakistan are laughable. India has already given voice samples of Mumbai attacks," Congress leader Anand Sharma said at a press conference here.

"On June 1, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said as long as Lakhvi is not punished India won't talk, so has External Affairs Minister and Prime Minister departed from that statement?" he added.

India and Pakistan today decided to revive the stalled dialogue process and find ways to expedite trial of the Mumbai attack case as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his counterpart Nawaz Sharif agreed to cooperate to eliminate terrorism from South Asia.

The two leaders, who met on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit in Ufa, Russia, discussed the entire gamut of issues between both sides.

Foreign Secretaries S Jaishankar and Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry, who held a joint press meet after the meeting, said both countries have condemned terrorism in all forms and decided to take steps to deal with the menace.

They said that the meeting between the two Prime Ministers was cordial, adding that both sides have agreed to hold collective responsibility to ensure peace and development and to do so they are prepared to discuss all outstanding issues.

The two Asian neighbours also decided to release the fishermen in each other's custody within 15 days.