India calls upon Pak for joint fight against terror

Home Secretary VK Duggal said this ahead of the crucial Indo-Pak Home Secretary-level talks beginning on Tuesday.

Ahead of the crucial Indo-Pak Home Secretary-level talks beginning on Tuesday to discuss contentious issues like terrorism, New Delhi has said it wants both countries to carry out a joint fight against the scourge.

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Home Secretary VK Duggal, who is in Pakistan for the talks, said terrorists have no religion and want to impose their will on the people.

Observing that terrorism has emerged as a threat to both the countries, he told Geo TV "India and Pakistan have to fight together to get rid of this menace."

The Home Secretary-level talks being held under the aegis of the third round of Composite Dialogue process would provide an opportunity for officials of both the countries to have a frank discussions on issues like terrorism, drug trafficking and release of prisoners.

During Tuesday's talks India is expected to discuss two aspects of terrorism - one that directly relates to cross border terrorism wherein trained terrorists continue to infiltrate through LoC into Jammu and Kashmir and secondly the reported attempts by banned Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) to diversify its activities into the Indian hinterland.

The second point was recently highlighted by National Security Advisor MK Nayaranan, who said that a disturbing trend has been noticed that LeT is systematically trying to train, motivate and arm some Indian Muslim youth to carry out attacks in different Indian cities.

Pakistan banned LeT in 2001 along with Jaish-e-Muhammad. However LeT founder, Hafeez Sayed floated another organisation called Jamat-ud Dawa, (JD) which was recently banned by the United States.