India, Pakistan to resume peace talks

NEW DELHI: India and Pakistan will resume talks on Tuesday to improve bilateral ties and finetune a joint mechanism to combat militancy, the Indian foreign ministry said on Monday.   

The two sides will kick off the talks with negotiations on 'conventional confidence-building measures' in New Delhi on Tuesday, which will be followed by discussions on nuclear safeguards a day later, a ministry statement said. 

On Saturday, the two nuclear-armed rivals will hold talks on the joint anti-terrorism mechanism, it said.   

The statement did not elaborate but said Islamabad has confirmed its participation in the discussions.   

The anti-terror panel initiative was unveiled last year when top Indian and Pakistani diplomats resumed peace talks in New Delhi after the July 2006 train bombings in Mumbai, in which 186 people died.   

It was supposed to meet quarterly, but since its first meeting in Islamabad in March -- which focused on the firebombing of a train linking the two countries, which killed 68 people -- no further talks have taken place.   

Indian officials said political turmoil and militant attacks in Pakistan largely caused the delay in the resumption of the talks.