US stresses need for cooperation between India and Pak

UNITED NATIONS: Stressing the need for continued cooperation between India and Pakistan in bringing the perpetrators of Mumbai terror strikes to justice, the US has said both the neighbours should ensure that such attacks are not repeated.

Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice said the United States will continue to cooperate with both India and Pakistan in "every regard".

"The key is that the parties need to focus on - and I think, we are focusing on - both bringing the perpetrators to justice and prevention of any following on attacks," the top US diplomat told reporters after a meeting of the Middle East Quartet at the UN headquarters here yesterday.

Rice, who visited both New Delhi and Islamabad in the aftermath of the November 26 attacks on Mumbai, said the US has made its views very clear on the issue and both parties are continuing to cooperate in this regard.

However, she parried a question posed by a Pakistani journalist about "increasing tensions" between the two countries following reported incursion of the Indian fighter planes into Pakistani air space.

India has denied that its warplane made any incursion into the Pakistan airspace. Later, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari described it as "technical incursion".

"Incursions do happen," he said and added that the planes were flying at about 40,000 feet to 50,000 feet when they executed a turn that "slightly entered Pakistan soil."