ISLAMABAD, Jan 20: Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said on Tuesday that it was important for Pakistan and India to chart the way forward for anti-terrorism cooperation.

Talking to a delegation of prominent members of the ‘Pakistan civil society’s peace mission’ to India, the minister said there was an imperative need for an across-the-board constructive bilateral engagement and resumption of the peace process.

He said the government was committed to pursuing a cooperative approach to bring the perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks to justice.He stressed the need for cooperation between the two countries to jointly fight the forces of terrorism which were the common enemy of their people.

Mr Qureshi recounted measures taken by the government in the wake of the terrorist attacks.

He said the ‘composite dialogue’ had made considerable progress towards confidence building, bilateral trade and people-to-people contacts.

“Pakistan believes that sustained engagement and dialogue are necessary to allay each other’s concerns.”

The minister said a breakdown of dialogue would only work to the advantage of terrorists. Conflict, confrontation and tensions were exactly what the terrorists wanted, he said.

“We should not walk into their trap. It is important to show statesmanship.”

The mission includes Asma Jehangir, I.A. Rehman, Imtiaz Alam, Nusrat Javed, Dr A.H. Nayyar, Musarrat Hilali and Rashid Razvi.

Also on Tuesday, the foreign minister told BBC that a strategy had been devised to ensure that terrorists did not use the country’s soil.

He said Pakistan was making progress in investigation into the Mumbai attacks and trying its best to satisfy India.

He said action would be taken against any persons or groups found involved in terrorist activities.

Replying to a question, Mr Qureshi said the government, armed forces and intelligence agencies were functioning in harmony.

“All institutions of the country have a unanimous stand that they have to proceed to exterminate terrorism from the region,” he added.—APP