Pakistan and India agreed today to start a historic bus service between the capitals of divided Kashmir, the first direct link between the two sides of the Himalayan province that has been at the heart of decades of bloodshed.

India’s foreign minister met with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf today amid hopes the two sides could iron out an agreement to start a historic bus service between the capitals of divided Kashmir, the Himalayan province at the heart of decades of disagreement.

Pakistan successfully test fired a medium-range nuclear-capable missile today for the second time in a week, but officials denied that any message was being sent to neighbouring India’s new government.

Pakistan and India will hold talks later this month as part of the peace process to tackle five decades of enmity, an official said today.

Pakistan successfully test fired a medium-range nuclear-capable missile today, one week after a new prime minister took office in nuclear rival and neighbour India.

Islamic militants fighting Indian control over Kashmir vowed today they would not halt their insurgency despite an agreement between India and Pakistan to start peace talks that will include their bitter dispute over the divided Himalayan territory.

India and Pakistan took a giant leap to put more than a half-century of bloodshed behind them, agreeing today to start talks next month on core disputes of nationalism and religion that have taken the nuclear-armed nations into three wars.

India’s prime minister called on South Asia’s nations to put aside a long history of suspicion and “petty rivalries” and embrace a future of trust and understanding, before a historic meeting with his Pakistani counterpart.

Two people were killed today when a bomb tore through an office block in Pakistan’s troubled port city Karachi.

Dozens of rain-soaked Indian passengers jostled onto a luxury bus today that honked wildly as it headed for Pakistan, resuming a transportation link disrupted 18 months ago by threats of war between the hostile, nuclear-armed neighbours.

India is to restart a bus service to Pakistan that was stopped 17 months ago after an attack on its parliament that New Delhi blamed on terrorists supported by Islamabad.

India has rejected Pakistan’s offer for mutual destruction of nuclear arsenals, but the Indian prime minister has said his country is seeking ”friendship” with its South Asian neighbour.

India will not reciprocate on Pakistan’s offer to dismantle nuclear weapons, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee told parliament in New Delhi today.

Pakistan’s premier restored transport links with neighbour India today, announced full diplomatic ties and called for confidence-building measures concerning their nuclear arsenals.

Pakistan made a major peace overture to nuclear rival India today with a telephone call from Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali to his Indian counterpart Atal Bihari Vajpayee, state media reported.

Atal Bihari Vajpayee was today becoming the first Indian prime minister in 16 years to hold a public rally in troubled Jammu-Kashmir state.

India’s deputy prime minister was today visiting grief-stricken families of 24 Hindus massacred by suspected Islamic militants in a remote village in Indian-controlled Kashmir.

Nuclear rivals India and Pakistan expelled each other’s top diplomats today, virtually slamming the door on hopes for a dialogue to settle the long-standing Kashmir dispute.

India has test-fired an Akash surface-to-air missile for the second time in three days.

The experts who advise India’s government on security have recommended it drop its policy of not using nuclear weapons first in a conflict, it was reported today.

Pakistan has postponed indefinitely a seven nation South Asian summit it was to host next month because rival neighbour India refused to confirm that it would attend.

Shooting broke out between security forces and suspected Islamic militants today near a Hindu temple attacked the night before in Indian-controlled Kashmir.

India says it will pull tens of thousands of troops from its border with Pakistan to ease tensions.

Voters fled as suspected Islamic separatists attacked a polling station today during the final round of voting in Indian-held Kashmir.

Pakistan successfully carried out a second test of its medium-range, surface-to-surface missile in less than a week today.

India has claimed that 41% of registered voters cast their votes in today’s Kashmir state elections, which were marked by violent attacks on polling stations and security forces.

Suspected Islamic militants ambushed the campaign convoy of the Kashmir tourism minister, leaving two members of her security unit dead and three others injured.

Suspected Islamic militants raided the home of a police officer and gunned down his father, brother and two other relatives in troubled Kashmir, police said today.

India is to hold state elections in September and October in its part of disputed Kashmir.

Suspected Islamic guerrillas attacked a counter-insurgents’ camp in Indian Kashmir today, setting off an explosion that killed at least three people and injured eight others, police said.

Despite expectations, both India’s houses of Parliament adjourned today without Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee commenting on Saturday’s attack by suspected Islamic militants that killed 28 civilians in India-controlled Kashmir.

Indian troops were today hunting suspected Islamic guerrillas who killed at least 27 Hindu civilians when they attacked a crowded slum in Jammu-Kashmir state.

At least 25 Hindus were killed after suspected Islamic guerrillas threw grenades and fired automatic weapons in a slum area - the deadliest attack in the disputed region in two months.

At least 25 Hindus were killed today after suspected Islamic guerrillas threw grenades and fired automatic weapons in a slum area - the deadliest attack in the disputed region in two months.

India’s new foreign minister doubts Pakistan intends to stop cross-border incursions by Islamic militants in Kashmir completely, and said India must be "very, very careful"’ in dealing with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf.

India’s army chief said the number of incursions by Pakistani-based Islamic militants into India’s portion of Kashmir has dropped dramatically.

Shelling and small-arms fire killed an army officer and wounded three civilians along the Kashmir border ahead of a visit today by the US defence secretary aimed at defusing tensions between India and Pakistan, an Indian army spokesman said.

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf said today that the danger of a war with India is not yet over, despite indications from New Delhi that tensions have eased somewhat.

India and Pakistan are toning down their war rhetoric and sounding more conciliatory, but shelling resumed today in divided Kashmir, killing a 17-year-old youth on the Pakistan side.

Pakistani artillery blew up a television tower and suspected Islamic separatists killed four civilians in the Indian-controlled part of Kashmir early today, despite assurances that the tensions are easing.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair today discussed the crisis in Kashmir with Russian President Vladimir Putin as signs emerged that the tense standoff between India and Pakistan could be easing.

India is considering returning some of its diplomats to Pakistan and making some ‘‘military gestures’’ to lessen tensions between the nuclear-armed rivals, a top US State Department official said today.

India and Pakistan resumed shelling along their tense border today, killing three people hours after Pakistan said its jets shot down an unmanned Indian spy plane, officials said.

It has been reported that an Indian Air Force MiG fighter jet has crashed in Kashmir's summer capital Srinagar.