India and Pakistan agree to fight terror

By Rina Chandran and Alastair Sharp SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt (Reuters) - India and Pakistan agreed Thursday to work together to fight terrorism and ordered their top diplomats to meet as often as needed to try to rebuild ties damaged by last year's Mumbai attacks.

But Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, speaking after talks with his Pakistani counterpart Yusuf Raza Gilani in Egypt, ruled out a resumption of formal peace talks, known as the "composite dialogue," that Islamabad has been seeking.

"Composite dialogue cannot begin unless and until terrorist heads which shook Mumbai are properly accounted for, (and) perpetrators of these heinous crimes are brought to book," Singh told a news conference after talks with Gilani.

India broke off the formal peace process after the attack on Mumbai by Pakistan-based militants who India says must have been helped by Pakistani security agents.

Islamabad denies state agencies had any role and says it will prosecute those accused of involvement in the attacks.

In a statement after meeting on the fringes of a Non-Aligned Movement summit, the prime ministers "affirmed their resolve to fight terrorism and to cooperate with each other to this end."

"Both prime ministers recognized that dialogue is the only way forward," the statement said, adding that the countries' senior diplomats would continue meeting.

Thursday's talks in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh was the third high-level encounter between the two neighbours since the Mumbai assault.

"It's a good step forward and it's a way out of the impasse that the two sides found themselves in after Mumbai," said C. Raja Mohan, professor of South Asia studies at Singapore's Nanyang Technology University.