Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh met with Pakistan's president on Tuesday for the first time since last year's deadly terrorist attacks on Mumbai, and told him Pakistan must prevent its territory from being used to launch such attacks, officials and news reports said.
"My mandate is to tell you that Pakistani territory should not be used for terrorism against India," Indian and Russian news agencies quoted Singh as saying after shaking hands with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari ahead of their meeting behind closed doors.
The leaders of South Asia's nuclear-armed neighbors met on the sidelines of summits in the Ural Mountains city of Yekaterinburg, Russian officials said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to announce the information on the record.
India accuses a Pakistan-based militant group of sending the teams of gunmen that rampaged through Mumbai, India's financial center, in a three-day siege that killed 166 people.
Pakistani officials have acknowledged the November attacks were partly plotted on their soil.
Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi downplayed Singh's reported remark and said the meeting itself was a positive development, the reports said.
"I think the very fact that the two leaders are meeting at this summit for the first time since the tragic incident in Mumbai is positive," Russia's state-run RIA-Novosti and ITAR-Tass quoted Qureshi as saying in Yekaterinburg.
India and Pakistan have observer status in the six-nation Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which wrapped up a two-day summit Tuesday. Singh also was taking part in a summit of the BRIC group linking Brazil, Russia, India and China.
India and Pakistan have been adversaries for decades. In 2001, a suicide attack on the Indian Parliament pushed them to the brink of war, and they have fought two wars over the disputed territory of Kashmir since gaining independence from Britain in 1947.
Recently, India has accused Pakistani authorities of supporting militants fighting in Kashmir. India, the U.S. and other nations have urged Pakistan to do more to curb Islamic militant groups.
In a speech to India's parliament last week, Singh said that "it is in our vital interest therefore to try again to make peace with Pakistan" and urged Pakistan to take "strong, effective and sustained action" to prevent the use of its territory for terror.
"If the leaders of Pakistan have the courage, the determination and the statesmanship to take this road to peace, I wish to assure them that we will meet them more than half way," Singh said at the time
"My mandate is to tell you that Pakistani territory should not be used for terrorism against India," Indian and Russian news agencies quoted Singh as saying after shaking hands with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari ahead of their meeting behind closed doors.
The leaders of South Asia's nuclear-armed neighbors met on the sidelines of summits in the Ural Mountains city of Yekaterinburg, Russian officials said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to announce the information on the record.
India accuses a Pakistan-based militant group of sending the teams of gunmen that rampaged through Mumbai, India's financial center, in a three-day siege that killed 166 people.
Pakistani officials have acknowledged the November attacks were partly plotted on their soil.
Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi downplayed Singh's reported remark and said the meeting itself was a positive development, the reports said.
"I think the very fact that the two leaders are meeting at this summit for the first time since the tragic incident in Mumbai is positive," Russia's state-run RIA-Novosti and ITAR-Tass quoted Qureshi as saying in Yekaterinburg.
India and Pakistan have observer status in the six-nation Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which wrapped up a two-day summit Tuesday. Singh also was taking part in a summit of the BRIC group linking Brazil, Russia, India and China.
India and Pakistan have been adversaries for decades. In 2001, a suicide attack on the Indian Parliament pushed them to the brink of war, and they have fought two wars over the disputed territory of Kashmir since gaining independence from Britain in 1947.
Recently, India has accused Pakistani authorities of supporting militants fighting in Kashmir. India, the U.S. and other nations have urged Pakistan to do more to curb Islamic militant groups.
In a speech to India's parliament last week, Singh said that "it is in our vital interest therefore to try again to make peace with Pakistan" and urged Pakistan to take "strong, effective and sustained action" to prevent the use of its territory for terror.
"If the leaders of Pakistan have the courage, the determination and the statesmanship to take this road to peace, I wish to assure them that we will meet them more than half way," Singh said at the time
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