Speaking to reporters who accompanied him on his visit to Brazil and Cuba aboard Air-India One on Sunday night, Dr Singh said, "General Musharraf has assured me that Pakistan has no hand in perpetuating terrorist acts in India. He asked me not to go into the past, to forget whatever has happened in the past and to let us work together in the future."
"I do think it is a new beginning," the prime minister added. "I hope it works, but if it does not work then we have to deal with the consequences."
Dr Singh and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf issued a joint statement after their meeting in Havana on Saturday, saying that both countries would work on the peace process. They also agreed to set up an India-Pakistan anti-terrorism institutional mechanism to curb terrorist attacks directed against India.
Asked if future terrorist attacks on Indian soil would endanger the peace process, Dr Singh said, "Let us not deal with such hypothetical questions. I cannot say we have got security for our country forever. Life is much more complicated, it is not black and white. We have made an attempt to solve the problem, therefore let us not get into hypothetical questions."
In a statement on Sunday, Bharatiya Janata Party president Rajnath Singh, who had opposed Dr Singh's meeting with General Musharraf, said the anti-terrorism institutional mechanism was a 'fig leaf' and Pakistan had got concessions to resume talks.
Asked if India had shifted its stand towards Pakistan, Dr Singh said, "There is no shift in our stand. We are worried about cross-border terrorism. But it is no use condemning and not doing anything. Wherever opportunites exist for cooperative action to tackle this problem, to save human lives, we should toss all the balls in a quest for a safe and secure life for our citizens."
On dismantling the terror structure in Pakistan, Dr Singh said, "We will discuss all the issues. Let us not jump the gun. Let this mechanism be in place. We will explore all the ways with which we can rid the subcontinent of the scourge of terrorism."
"We had a very sincere, frank discussion on all issues," the prime minister said, speaking for the first time about his latest encounter with the Pakistani leader. "President Musharraf recalled what I had stated -- that the borders cannot be redrawn -- and his statement that they (Pakistan) cannot accept the Line of Control as a permanent solution. I believe that we should work in all sincerity out of the box, to deal with the situation."
