India and Pakistan agree to set up nuclear hotline

INDIA and Pakistan have agreed to set up a hotline to avoid a nuclear confrontation and to ban further nuclear tests.

The South Asian neighbours, who held nuclear tests two weeks apart in 1998 and have come close to war twice since then, are trying to lessen concerns from more established atomic powers. They said they wanted to “promote a stable environment of peace and security”.

The hotline will link the top civil servants in their foreign ministries, said a joint statement at the end of the first talks on nuclear risks since the 1998 tests.