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India has said that the decision to create a joint anti terror mechanism with Pakistan does not mean there is a change in New Delhi's policy towards Islamabad.
Foreign Secretary Designate, Shiv Shankar Menon said though the modalities of the mechanism are still to be worked out, there were hopes that India could raise its concerns on terrorism through this forum.
"We have not had a collective mechanism to deal with it before, this doesn't mean that we stop dealing with it ourselves or that we stop doing anything else that we have been doing before since 2004.
"We will do that as well but now for the first time we have a joint mechanism to deal with those aspects of the problem which we feel that we can deal with," said Menon.
When asked about the extradition of Dawood Ibrahim, Menon said such issues could also be brought up with Pakistan through this mechanism.
On Pakistan's role in the Mumbai blasts, Menon said the government was still investigating who was responsible for the blasts and drew a distinction between terror elements in Pakistan and the government of Pakistan.
Peace process
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf held a successful meeting in Cuba on Saturday, marking a new beginning to the peace process between the two countries.
Singh and Musharraf agreed to carry the peace process forward with the announcement that the Foreign Secretaries of the two countries will meet in Delhi.
This is part of the composite dialogue calendar and was put off after the July blasts in Mumbai.
In a statement jointly agreed on and read by the leaders before the media in Cuba, the two sides said talks on Jammu and Kashmir were useful.
They have asked the foreign secretaries to push officials to expedite progress on the Siachen issue and the survey of maritime boundaries of Sir Creek.
Joint anti-terror mechanism set up
Most significantly, the joint statement condemned the Mumbai blasts and India and Pakistan will now work jointly to fight terror. The two countries also agreed on a joint institutional mechanism to tackle terrorism.
The statement says both leaders will continue to work towards a mutually acceptable solution to the Kashmir issue.
The Prime Minister also accepted President Musharraf's invitation to visit Pakistan and expressed hope that it would be a purposeful visit at a suitable timing.
The date for this visit will be decided through diplomatic channels. The joint statement was preceded by a meeting between the two leaders, which lasted for more than an hour.
Earlier, Musharraf in his speech at the NAM summit said that Islamabad was keen on solving all outstanding disputes with India, including the Kashmir issue.
"We are determined to pursue the process for resolving all outstanding issues with India, including the J&K dispute," he said.
"A historic opportunity exists that must be seized by the leadership of the two countries to bring to a close the chapter of tension and conflict in our region," he added.
BJP advises caution
The BJP has responded to the Indo-Pak joint statement with caution.
"Even during the last two years such commitments had been given to PM Manmohan Singh but the terror attacks did not come to a halt," said Rajnath Singh, BJP President.
He also said that the trust-deficit between India and Pakistan and popular perceptions on terror continues as before.
Pakistan must match it by positive action against terror-centres within its own territory, he added.
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