New Delhi, India – The foreign ministers of India and Pakistan pledged Wednesday to fight terrorism together, a break from the finger-pointing that has often marked the aftermath of attacks like this week’s bombing that killed 68 people on a train linking the two rivals.
India, however, ruled out the possibility of a joint investigation, underscoring the lingering hostility between two nations whose conflict has often defined – and destabilized – South Asia for nearly six decades.
Investigators searched for two men who were allowed to jump off the train shortly before a pair of bombs went off, sparking a fire that engulfed two coaches and killed 68 people, most of them Pakistanis. Sketches of the two were released Tuesday.
After meeting for about two hours in New Delhi, the foreign ministers condemned Sunday’s attack and said the peace process would move forward. They also witnessed the signing of an accord to reduce the threat of accidentally triggering a nuclear war.
Pakistani Foreign Minister Khursheed Kasuri called the attack a tragedy that “has underlined the need for cooperation.”
Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee said the attackers would be brought to justice.
