By Harmeet Shah Singh, CNN
A policeman stands outside the court where the sole surviving Mumbai gunman’s appeal was held in Mumbai on February 21.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- India, Pakistan announce “hotline” on terror threats
- The announcement comes ahead of cricket match aimed at smoothing relations
- The hotline will link India’s home secretary with Pakistan’s interior secretary
New Delhi, India (CNN) — India and Pakistan Tuesday agreed to set up a “hotline” on terror threats, a day before prime ministers of the two South Asian rivals meet over a cricket World Cup match in their renewed efforts to smooth relations strained by the terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India.
Home Secretary G.K. Pillai and his Pakistani counterpart Qamar Zaman Chaudhary met for two days in the Indian capital for discussions on counterterrorism measures, drug trade, forged currency and on several other issues.
“Both sides agreed to set up a hotline between (the) home secretary of India and (the) interior secretary of Pakistan to facilitate real-time information-sharing with respect to terrorist threats,” said a joint statement issued at the end of their talks.
Pakistani groups have been blamed for the assault on India’s financial capital, Mumbai, in November 2008 that left more than 160 people dead and derailed a fragile peace process between the two nations.
According to the joint statement, Pakistan agreed in principle to allow a visit by an Indian commission linked to the Mumbai investigations. And on its part, India promised to admit a Pakistani judicial panel to study the trial proceedings related to the case.
“Dates for the visit of the judicial commission from Pakistan in connection with (the) Mumbai attack trial will be conveyed by India within four (to) six weeks,” the statement read.
A Mumbai court has imposed a death sentence on Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, the only surviving Pakistani gunman from the three-day terror siege of the city. Kasab’s lawyers say their client plans to challenge the sentence in India’s Supreme Court in New Delhi.
In their talks, Pillai also updated Chaudhary on India’s investigations into the 2007 deadly bombing of a Pakistan-bound train that killed 68 passengers, about 80 kilometers from New Delhi. Some Hindu extremists are now the key suspects in the firebombing on the Samjhauta (Friendship) Express train. The bombing was initially believed to be the work of Islamist militants.
“Both sides reiterated their commitment to fight terrorism in all its forms and manifestations and reaffirmed the need to bring those responsible for such crimes to justice,” the statement said.
Last week, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh invited the Pakistani leader, Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani, to Wednesday’s cricket match. The nuclear-capable neighbors, which have fought three wars since the blood-soaked partition of the Asian subcontinent in 1947, have in the past used cricket as a platform to ease ties. In 2005, Singh and then-Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf saw a cricket match in a New Delhi stadium.
In 1987, Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and Pakistan Gen. Muhammad Zia ul-Haq attended a similar game in Jaipur.
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