Islamabad: Afghanistan and Pakistan
should develop a common strategy to combat terrorism and
coordinate their efforts to take on militants, Afghan
President Hamid Karzai said on Sunday.
Karzai made the remarks during a telephone call to
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani tonight.
He called Gilani to express grief for the loss of
lives in suicide attacks in Lahore and Mingora that killed
over 70 people.
Afghanistan and Pakistan should "develop a common
strategy against terrorism in the larger interest of the
people of the two countries and peace of the region," Karzai
said.
Both countries "need to coordinate their efforts to
strengthen cooperation against terrorists and militants," he
added.
Karzai reminded Gilani that he had mentioned during
their talks when he visited Islamabad last week that the
circumstances in both countries "are so similar that an act of
violence in any of the two countries is followed by an act of
violence in the other."
He was referring to the recent terror attack in
Kandahar and to some other incidents in Afghanistan. Karzai
described his recent visit to Pakistan as "very fruitful".
Gilani reciprocated the feelings expressed by Karzai
and assured him that the people and government of Pakistan are
determined to root out terrorism in all its forms and
manifestations. He condemned the recent incident of terrorism
in Kandahar.
PTI
First Published: Sunday, March 14, 2010, 23:15