The prime ministers of India and Pakistan on Thursday agreed to resume peace talks and end the diplomatic deadlock provoked by the attacks on the Indian city of Mumbai in 2008, ADN Kronos reported.
India's Manmohan Singh met Yousaf Raza Gillani, his Pakistani counterpart, on the sidelines of a summit of South Asian leaders in Bhutan's capital, Thimpu, on Thursday.
Officials said the two leaders agreed on the need to normalise relations, dogged by more than six decades of hostility since both gained independence from Britain.
They deputed their foreign ministers to meet again soon to discuss the resumption of a wide-ranging formal dialogue that began in 2004 but was suspended after the Mumbai attacks that killed 170 people in November 2008 (photo).
The two prime ministers met for more than one hour in the tiny Himalayan kingdom in their first meeting in eight months.
India's foreign secretary, Nirupama Rao, said Gilani assured India that Pakistan would not allow its territory to be used for terrorist activity directed against India and would expedite the trial of the Mumbai suspects in Pakistan.
Nirupama Rao, India's foreign secretary, said that the two men had "very good talks".
"Foreign ministers and foreign secretaries should meet as soon as possible," Rao told reporters after the meeting.
Since the Mumbai attacks, India has repeatedly rejected Islamabad's calls for a resumption of talks, insisting that not enough has been done enough to bring the alleged attackers to justice.
...