India and Pakistan continue peace talks

Nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan took peace talks into a second day today, working on a timetable for a sustained dialogue to resolve the decades-old Kashmir dispute and other major issues.

Arun Kumar Singh, leader of the Indian Foreign Ministry team, met with Pakistani Foreign Secretary Riaz Khokhar and reviewed the progress made in the talks so far.

The two delegations then drove to Murree, a hill resort 30 miles northeast of Islamabad, the Pakistani capital, for further talks, a Pakistani diplomat said.

The three-day talks are expected to establish eight groups to settle a half-century of tensions that have led to three wars, and almost burst into a fourth in 2002 before international mediation averted the conflict.

The two sides discussed dates for future talks, and a formal timetable was expected to be decided before the end of talks on Wednesday.

Future talks will focus on Kashmir, confidence-building measures in the nuclear field, terrorism and drugs, economic cooperation and a river dispute.

Both sides expressed optimism about a “new momentum” in their talks.

“There is realisation in India and Pakistan that war is not an option, that you have to look at ways to find a peaceful resolution of the outstanding disputes between the two countries,” Pakistani spokesman Masood Khan said.

“There’s new momentum, this momentum must be maintained,” he said.