NEW DELHI, Oct 21: The carnage in Karachi has reaffirmed Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s view that Pakistan is as much a victim of terrorism as India, a perspective that could help refocus their Anti-Terror Mechanism (ATM) talks here on Monday.

Dr Singh was severely criticised by the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party when he equated India’s terror woes with Pakistan’s and both have exchanged sharp words recently, one claiming the prime minister was a weak leader and the other responding with a litany of accusations, including the BJP’s mishandling of ties with Islamabad.

US strategic analyst Steve Cohen and former Indian ambassador in Washington Lalit Mansingh were on NDTV on Sunday stressing the need for closer cooperation between India and Pakistan to prevent an unthinkable fallout of the latest terror assault in Karachi.

Senior foreign ministry officials from the two countries are to hold a day-long discussion on Monday, their second structured talks since the anti-terror mechanism was authorised by President Gen Pervez Musharraf and Dr Singh at their meeting in Havana.

Indian news reports based on official briefings suggested New Delhi is expected to seek to know the action Islamabad has taken in tracking down suspects of cross-border Samjhauta Express blasts and other attacks in India. Pakistan on its part will ask for more facts from the Samjhauta probe so far which it claims was a promise made by Dr Singh.

By and large these approaches pertain to posturing by both sides as neither wants to go too deep into intelligence sharing given the history of their mistrust. But the Karachi blasts have injected an independent urgency here with the United States feeling as involved as any other stakeholder in the region’s politics would be. This equation is already nudging the two countries to come together more enthusiastically.

Some reports have suggested that the Karachi carnage may actually adversely impact on Monday’s talks. But the fact that the Indian high commissioner in Islamabad has expressed India’s keenness to work with Ms Benazir Bhutto and that BJP leader L.K. Advani who rang up the PPP chairperson and was invited by her to visit Pakistan gives future terror-related cooperation a bipartisan support. Should Ms Bhutto get the prime minister’s job the coast looks clear for stepped up cooperation in this regard.

India is likely to provide evidence about involvement of Pakistan-based elements in terrorist acts on this side of the border at the meeting, which is taking place in the backdrop of recent blasts in Hyderabad and Ludhiana.