Gilani offers to step up intel cooperation with India

Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Tuesday offered to enhance cooperation with India in the field of intelligence to avert attacks like the Pune blast that could "further the agenda of terrorists" who were holding the bilateral ties "hostage".

Gilani made the remarks during a meeting with visiting US Senator John Kerry, the Chairman of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

He also expressed Pakistan's "strong commitment to resolve all core issues between the two countries through peaceful means and composite dialogue."

"The Prime Minister condoled the loss of lives in the recent terrorist incident in Pune and expressed his government's readiness to enhance cooperation in intelligence fields with India to ward the possibility of any such untoward incident which could only further the agenda of terrorists," said a statement issued by the Prime Minister's House.

The February 13 blast in a Pune bakery, the first major terror strike in India since the 2008 Mumbai attacks, had left 10 people dead and 57 injured.

"Pakistan had made progress in bringing the perpetrators of the Mumbai incident to justice and was determined not to allow use of its soil for any terrorist activity against any of its neighbours," Gilani said. He said Pakistan stood by the joint declaration issued after his meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at Sherm el-Sheikh in July last year.