Nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan began historic meetings today aimed at preparing the way for a sustained peace dialogue on Kashmir and other disputes that have kept the neighbours at loggerheads for decades.

The Indian and Pakistani armies will stop firing across the disputed Kashmir frontier from midnight tonight in a further easing of tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbours, officials said.

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.

Indian and Pakistani foreign ministers will sit at the same table tomorrow for the first time since the dispute over Islamic militant attacks on India’s Parliament pushed the nuclear neighbours to the brink of war.