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Will finish probing 26/11 info soon: Pak

Source:PTI
January 23, 2009 01:11 IST

Pakistan will complete its inquiry into the information provided by India on the Mumbai attacks "as soon as possible" and share its findings with India and other countries, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has said.
 
During a meeting with visiting NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, Gilani expressed Pakistan's "keen desire to defuse the situation in South Asia in the wake of the Mumbai attacks".

"Pakistan will complete its inquiry into the dossier of information provided by India as soon as possible and will share its results with India and other countries in due course", he said.

Accusing India for delay in providing information, he said: "If Pakistan had been provided the dossier earlier, it would have initiated its inquiry long ago."

He reiterated the government's "firm resolve to combat terrorism and focus its attention on restoring stability on Pakistan's western borders" as this is a prerequisite for the peace, prosperity and progress of South Asia.

Gilani also briefed Scheffer on measures taken by Pakistan to control the "movement of undesirable elements across the western border".

Referring to the negative fallout of US drone attacks on Pakistan's efforts to isolate extremists and terrorists, he urged NATO to share actionable intelligence with Pakistan's armed forces to enable them to take action.


He said that cooperation in military and intelligence fields between the two sides should be strengthened and called for institutionalising the strategic and political dialogue between Pakistan and NATO.

Scheffer also said NATO and Pakistan share the same strategic goal in combating terrorism. He acknowledged the need to focus on immediate economic development in the tribal areas, North West Frontier Province and Balochistan to help Pakistan in its efforts to eradicate extremism in these areas.

The NATO Secretary also called on President Asif Ali Zardari and discussed the situation in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Zardari apprised Scheffer about Pakistan's offers of cooperation to India in the aftermath of the Mumbai incident. Scheffer said both countries need to "cooperate closely in the investigations of the incident".

Zardari said the fight against militancy was a "huge effort that required a regional cooperative approach".

Source: PTI
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