Islamabad, Jan 7 (IANS): Pakistan must cooperate with India "with sincerity" to bring to book the masterminds of the terrorist attack on the IAF base if they are indeed Pakistanis, a daily said on Thursday.

"It is clear the two countries will need to cooperate on the issue of terrorism," The News International said in an editorial. 

"The word from India is that they are seeking Pakistan's cooperation in identifying the terrorists and tracing their network. 

"On our side, we need to work towards that with sincerity," it added. 

The daily also said that the January 2 attack on the Indian Air Force (IAF) base at Pathankot in Punjab, which killed seven security personnel, had averted a potential crisis in India-Pakistan relations.

India has said that all six attackers, believed to be from Pakistan, were killed.

"It (the attack) threatened to halt the improvement in Pak(istan)-India ties that we have seen over the past weeks - mainly as a result of diplomacy behind closed doors," the editorial said. 

It said the telephonic conversation between Prime Ministers Narendra Modi of India and Nawaz Sharif of Pakistan following the terror attack helped a great deal to cool tensions.

"This is a welcome break from the past and shows a new willingness to handle things diplomatically and without attempting to stir up trouble."

The daily said it was "very good news" that India refused to bow down to pressure to stop the talks scheduled this month between the foreign secretaries of the two countries.