ISLAMABAD, Dec 6: Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith expressed concerns on Saturday over the mounting tension between India and Pakistan and urged the two countries to maintain good relations.

In a phone call to Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, he praised Pakistani leadership for adopting a constructive approach in the wake of the Mumbai attacks and trying to defuse tensions.

Mr Smith is reported to have told Mr Qureshi that Australia had particularly noted that Pakistan had offered joint investigative mechanism to India to apprehend the perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks and called for a thorough probe into the matter.

There are growing concerns about the activities of the banned Lashkar-i-Taiba in Australia. Some Australians place the defunct group on a par with Al Qaeda in subversive activities. The sources said that Mr Smith sought Pakistan’s help for dealing with the threat posed by the group.

Mr Qureshi praised the Australian assistance programme for social and economic development, under which about $30.5 million would be provided to Pakistan in 2008-09.

ITALY: Ambassador Iannucci, head of Asia, Oceania and Pacific in the Italian foreign ministry, held bilateral talks with Additional Secretary (Europe) Akbar Zeb as a follow-up to Italian foreign minister’s recent visit to Islamabad and the meeting between the prime ministers of Italy and Pakistan in Beijing on the sidelines of the ASEM Summit in October.