India, Pakistan agree on more dialogues

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Leaders of India and Pakistan have issued a joint statement agreeing to cooperate on fighting terrorism and have ordered senior diplomats to continue their meetings.

Pakistan's Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani (L) shakes hands with India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during the 15th Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit in the Egyptian Red Sea tourist resort of Sharm el-Sheikh July 16, 2009.REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh

The much anticipated meeting came after a seven-month freeze in political dialogue between the two countries.

Thursday's meeting on the sidelines of a Non-Aligned Movement summit was the second high-level encounter between the two neighbors since the Mumbai assault that killed over a hundred people.

The meeting between Prime ministers of the two countries fostered hopes of re-launching the long-stalled peace talks between the two sides.

Manmohan Singh, Indian Prime Minister, said, "There is no other way other than dialogue. But composite dialogue has its own history. It continued for sometime and got disrupted so we now need to discuss whether we will be able to proceed, thinking about the same old issues, but I believe that India and Pakistan relations should improve."

A joint statement after the meeting said the two countries' foreign secretaries would "meet as often as necessary" in the future.

India reiterated the need to bring the perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks to justice, while Pakistan assured it will do everything in its power in this regard.

Bilateral ties between India and Pakistan deteriorated after attacks in the Indian commercial hub Mumbai, in November last year, killed 166 people.

India has blamed the attack on Pakistani militants who they say must have had help from Pakistani security agents. Pakistan has denied any involvement.