Zardari speaks to Sonia, wants joint fight against terror

Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari told Congress President Sonia Gandhi that countries needed to work together to eliminate militancy and extremism in all forms and manifestations.

Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari on Thursday told Congress President Sonia Gandhi that countries needed to work together to eliminate militancy and extremism in all forms and manifestations.

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Zardari, who made a telephone call to Gandhi to condemn the coordinated terrorist attacks in Mumbai that left over 100 people dead and many more injured, said the killing of innocent people was "most detestable".

A statement issued by the presidency said Zardari "condemned the attacks in the strongest possible terms".

He said "militancy and extremism in all forms and manifestations had to be eliminated" and countries needed to cooperate with one another in this regard.

Zardari asked Gandhi to convey his condolences and those of the people of Pakistan to the members of the victims' families.

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, currently on an official visit to India, said Pakistan and India need "to be calm, composed and supportive of each other" instead of making "knee-jerk reactions".

"We have to pool our resources and we have to join hands to fight and combat terrorism and extremism," he told Dawn News TV.

Qureshi said he had made several proposals to strengthen cooperation in combating terrorism during his meeting yesterday with his Indian counterpart Pranab Mukherjee.

"I have proposed that the intelligence chiefs of the two countries should be connected, they should have hotlines among themselves so that they can gather and share information," he said.