NEW DELHI, Sept 17: India’s ruling Congress Party and its Leftist allies on Sunday hailed the agreement between President Gen. Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as a positive move, but the opposition Baharatiya Janata Party went into a sulk, saying Islamabad should not be easily trusted.

The politburo of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) said the main decision taken in Havana was to resume the composite dialogue between the two countries.

“This is a welcome and necessary step,” the CPI-M said in a statement.

It said India expected Pakistan to act fully in implementing the agreement and it ‘must be fully conscious that this is a necessary component to resume advanced dialogue’ — a reference to the decision to set up a joint anti-terrorism institutional mechanism.

“The CPI-M is of the firm opinion that issues such as Siachen and Sir Creek can be resolved if sincere efforts are made by both sides.

“The issue of Jammu and Kashmir must also be addressed at the political level,” it said.

“We have to move forward somewhere. If we keep seeing if results are being achieved or not, then we can see if there’s some merit in going ahead on a long term basis or not. But at least, this is a new area that the PM and Musharraf have decided to explore,” former foreign secretary Shashank was quoted as saying.

Former envoy to Pakistan G. Parthasarthy was sceptical about the mere idea of the ISI collaborating with RAW or the Intelligence Bureau.

“Setting up a mechanism or a joint working group with Pakistan on terrorism is as foolish as setting up a joint investigation into the 93 blasts or a joint work group with the Jaish or Masood Azhar to investigate the parliament attack,” he told a TV channel.

BJP President Rajanth Singh cautioned New Delhi to go with double caution on the resumption of Indo-Pak dialogue suspended following the July, Mumbai train blasts.

“There is a total disconnect between the UPA government and the popular public opinion on terror attacks frequently launched in several parts of India,” Mr Singh said.

The proposed joint mechanism appeared to be a fig-leaf to cover the concessions made to Pakistan in regard to the resumption of talks, he said.