India hopes to move forward in cooperating with Pakistan to fight terrorism: official

India Monday said it hoped to take forward steps agreed by the Indian and Pakistani prime ministers recently to fight terrorism and strengthen peace along the border, said local media.

The Press Trust of India quoted Indian Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar as saying that Pakistan is part of the neighborhood diplomacy of India, which he said was symbolized by the invitation extended to the leaders of South Asian nations when the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi was sworn in in May last year.

"To India's west, the relationship with Pakistan has its share of challenges but is part of the neighborhood agenda that I mentioned earlier. Our Prime Ministers met a week ago and agreed on steps to counter terrorism and strengthen peace and tranquillity on the border. We hope to take that forward," he was quoted as saying at an international seminar in Singapore.

Prime Minister Modi and his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif met in Ufa, Russia on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit on July 10.

They agreed upon a number of steps to re-engage each other, including arranging meetings of Border Security Force Director General and his counterpart from Pakistan Rangers and a dialogue between the national security advisors of the two countries. Endi