The Indo-Pak anti-terrorism committee will hold its first meeting in Islamabad on March 7 during which Islamabad is expected to outline its response to the evidence provided by India on the involvement of Pakistan based groups in terror-related incidents.
"It has now been agreed by both the countries that the joint committee, which is officially termed as the joint mechanism against terrorism will meet in Islamabad on March 7," officials in Islamabad told PTI.
The committee comprising three officials from each side would meet for two days to discuss issues, which India terms as the most 'crucial' concerning both countries.
The committee would be jointly headed by additional joint secretary in the External Affairs Ministry S P Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Usman Haider. The remaining two members from each side will be drawn from Interior ministries and intelligence agencies.
The two countries agreed to set up the committee during the September meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Pervez Musharraf in Havana on the sidelines of the non-aligned movement summit.
Its format and composition was agreed during the foreign secretaries meeting in New Delhi in November last where India forwarded some material pointing to links between Pakistan's militant groups and different incidents of bomb blasts in India.
However, India has not given the evidence relating to Mumbai train bomb blasts as the legal formalities to file the chargesheet were not completed at the time of the foreign secretary talks.