India, Pakistan to resume formal peace talks

NEW DELHI: India and Pakistan have agreed to resume formal peace talks for the first time since the Mumbai attacks in 2008, the NDTV news channel said Thursday, citing unnamed government sources.

The decision was taken at a meeting between Indian foreign secretary Nirupama Rao and her Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir in the Bhutanese capital Thimphu on Sunday, the channel said.

It added that a formal announcement was expected later Thursday.

The brief talks in Bhutan, on the sidelines of a South Asian regional summit, were the first high-level contact between the nuclear-armed neighbours since July when the countries' foreign ministers met in Islamabad.

Indian Foreign Ministry spokesman Vishnu Prakash said officials from both sides would "do the necessary spadework" ahead of another meeting between the foreign ministers -- expected in June or July.

"We have to pick up the threads again," Prakash told AFP.

However, he declined to confirm whether this meant a resumption of the full-fledged peace process -- known as the "composite dialogue" -- that was suspended in the wake of the 2008 attacks, which claimed 166 lives.

"This is still a step-by-step approach which is necessary to narrow the trust deficit," he said.

After the talks in Thimphu, both sides put out a joint statement agreeing on the need for a constructive dialogue "to resolve all outstanding issues."

Relations between the nuclear-armed rivals, who have fought three wars since the subcontinent was partitioned in 1947, have been plagued by border and resource disputes, and accusations of Pakistani militant activity against India.

They embarked on a formal peace dialogue in 2004, but India suspended the process after the Mumbai attacks.

India accuses Pakistan of failing to crack down sufficiently on militant groups on its territory, including those which New Delhi blames for the assault on its financial capital.

The two countries began to explore a resumption of structured talks last year, and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani met in Thimphu in April.

At the July meeting of Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and his Indian counterpart S.M. Krishna, an initially positive mood was soured after each side accused the other of lacking the sincerity to resume a proper dialogue.