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India, Pakistan to discuss resuming peace process
ISLAMABAD: The foreign ministers of nuclear-armed rivals Pakistan and India are to hold talks in Islamabad Thursday aimed at resuming a tentative peace process derailed by the 2008 Mumbai attacks.The talks are the third high-level contact in six months and the foreign ministers' first meeting since 10 Islamist gunmen left 166 people dead in 60 hours of carnage in India's financial capital two years ago.
The agenda is likely to be dominated by Indian concerns about terrorism, violence in India-administered Kashmir, rivalry in Afghanistan and reported allegations that Pakistan's intelligence agency was behind the 2008 attacks.
India's S.M. Krishna and Pakistan's Shah Mehmood Qureshi are expected to go into talks at 11 am (0600 GMT).
Krishna arrived on Wednesday bearing a message of "peace and friendship" but calling on Islamabad to act decisively against terrorism.
"We hope to undertake the voyage of peace, however long and arduous," the Indian news agency quoted him as telling reporters.
"Pakistan must realise that India harbours no ill-will against it and the cancer of terrorism needs to be rooted out completely," Krishna said. "There can be no selective efforts against this scourge."
Relations between the two countries, which have fought three wars since the subcontinent was divided in 1947, have been plagued by border and resource disputes, and accusations of Pakistani militant activity aimed at India.
Pakistan foreign ministry spokesman Abdul Basit said Thursday's talks would be approached "with a positive mindset" and cover "all issues."
But they were overshadowed by comments that an Indian newspaper attributed to India's senior civil servant in the home ministry, G. K. Pillai, blaming Pakistani intelligence for masterminding the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
India and the United States blamed Pakistani militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba (Let) for the violence, which India considers its own September 11.
A Pakistani anti-terrorism court has charged seven suspects in connection with the violence, including alleged mastermind Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi and alleged LeT operative Zarar Shah, but Pakistan says it needs more evidence.
India has repeatedly demanded that Pakistan bring the perpetrators to justice and crack down on militant groups.
Pakistan, in turn, is likely to raise the issues of India's control of regional water resources and the disputed Kashmir territory, where the Indian army is currently trying to quell protests after being accused of killing civilians.
India and Pakistan have fought two of their wars over the disputed region and Kashmiri militants have been fighting New Delhi's rule for two decades in an insurgency that has claimed tens of thousands of lives.
Analysts say Thursday's talks are unlikely to yield any concrete agreement beyond possible trust-building measures that could ease deep distrust.
India and Pakistan's prime ministers met in April on the sidelines of a regional summit in Bhutan, which set in motion the process of reviving suspended contacts at different levels of government.
The recent thaw has been encouraged by Western allies, in particular the United States, which sees regional stability as key to winning the war in Afghanistan and has pushed Pakistan to fight Taliban insurgents.
Courtesy www.Geo.tv