Mail News Service
\nNew Delhi, Aug 19: Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde has expressed concern to his Pakistani counterpart over the issue of social media-networking sites being misused by elements based in Pakistan to circulate false pictures and stories so as to whip up communal sentiments in India and has sought Pakistan\u2019s full cooperation in checking and neutralizing such elements. Shri Shinde expressed these views when Mr. Rehman Malik, Interior Minister of Pakistan spoke to him today over telephone. This was the first direct contact between the two Ministers.
\nShri Shinde thanked Mr. Malik and conveyed his Eid wishes to him and the people of Pakistan. The Union Home Minister expressed the hope that the occasion would herald an improvement in Indo-Pak relations.
\nThe Interior Minister of Pakistan briefly spoke of the pending issues between the two Ministries and re-iterated his commitment to bring the masterminds and perpetrators of the Mumbai terror attack to justice. He assured full mutual cooperation in this matter. Mr. Rehman Malik also invited Shri Shinde to visit Pakistan to sign the revised Visa agreement which has now been agreed to by both sides.
\nBoth concluded the discussion by agreeing to continue the mutual cooperation and to work towards rooting out terrorism in all its form and manifestation.
\nBulk of the rumours that triggered panic among people of northeastern states in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra were sourced from Pakistan, Union Home Secretary R K Singh said .\u201dA total of 76 websites were identified where morphed images were uploaded and bulk of these were uploaded in Pakistan,\u201d Singh said.
\n\u201cWe believe it is highly reprehensible. I think it needs to be made known to everybody that this is something that is being done from Pakistan. The bulk of it has been done from Pakistan,\u201d he said.
\nSingh said bodies of victims of cyclones and earthquakes in different part of the world were shown as victims of violence in Myanmar in the morphed images. Pakistan on Sunday rejected Indian charges that morphed pictures of Assam and Myanmar violence which sparked an exodus of northeastern citizens from other states originated in Pakistan.
\nSuch remarks only widen the trust deficit between the two countries, sources in the Pakistan High Commission here said. <\/p>\n\n