Pak should give no room to terrorists: India

Ahead of foreign secretary level talks, India on Tuesday said it was looking to a future of peaceful co-existence on the basis of mutual trust wherein terrorists are given no room by Pakistan to undertake hostile activities against it.

"We have always underscored our concerns of terror being unleashed against India and we have said we would like the region to be terror free, and towards that we would certainly expect cooperation from all the countries including Pakistan," External Affairs Minister S M Krishna said.

He was asked whether India would use the platform of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation to voice its concerns on terror attacks in India launched from foreign soil. Indo-Pak foreign secretary level talks are slated later this month.

Krishna, who is in Kazakhstan for the SCO summit, said the foreign secretary level talks will serve an important purpose to underline the need for Pakistan not to allow the use of its territory for hostile activities of various terrorist organisations.

He said the revelations of 26/11 Mumbai attacks accused Tahawwur Rana in a Chicago court give room for the internal churnings that are going on in Pakistan and the motivation for Pakistan to act the way it did.

"But that is behind us and we are looking to the future and that future has to be peaceful co-existence on the basis of equality, mutual trust and not giving room for our territories to be used for hostile activities of organizations of various hues and complexions. I think to that extent it serves a very important purpose," he said.

While the dates for the foreign secretary level talks have not yet been finalised, the meeting is expected to take stock of the progress made by the two countries in discussions over issues such as security, water, trade and commerce.

This will be the first meeting between Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao and her Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir since their meeting in Thimphu in February.

These talks are significant in the light of the recent Abbottabad operation by the United States which resulted in the killing of Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, during his recent visit to Afghanistan, had called for a probe into how the Al Qaeda chief managed to live in Pakistan without the authorities knowing about it.

The talks will be the latest addition to the step-by-step re-engagement process that the two sides zeroed in on in Thimphu.

The two countries had earlier this year agreed to resume their comprehensive dialogue on all bilateral issues to resolve all outstanding issues in a constructive and forward-looking manner, two years after talks had been stalled between them in the wake of the Mumbai terror attacks.