India, Pakistan set date for first talks since Mumbai attacks

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ISLAMABAD, Feb 12 (AFP): Pakistan and India will soon hold their first official talks since the Mumbai attacks, Islamabad announced Friday, in a move seen as a significant bid to ease regional tensions.
"It was decided that foreign secretary level talks between the two countries would be held on February 25 in New Delhi," the Pakistani government announced.
There was no immediate confirmation of the talks from New Delhi, which last week initiated hopes of a thaw in relations since the 2008 Mumbai attacks by proposing talks between the countries' top foreign ministry officials.
Tensions between the nuclear rivals, which have fought three wars since British partition of the sub-continent in 1947, have fanned instability on their border, in the divided Himalayan territory of Kashmir and in Afghanistan.
The move towards direct talks has been seen as a result of pressure from the United States, which is keen to keep South Asia trouble-free while deploying tens of thousands more troops into battle against the Taliban in Afghanistan.
US national security adviser James Jones was in Pakistan again on Friday for talks with government and military leaders on regional security.
Pakistan said its side "should raise all the core issues and impress upon India the need for the expeditious resolution through resumption of Composite Dialogue"-a reference to Islamabad's desire for fully fledged peace talks.
"The prime minister direct
ed the foreign secretary, who was also present in the meeting, that his talks with his Indian counterpart should be result oriented and meaningful," the prime minister's office said.
Leaders from both countries, including the prime ministers, have met several times in the past year but only on the sidelines of regional conferences.
Pakistani analysts and officials had spoken of haggling with India over the framework of the talks, saying New Delhi limited them to counter-terrorism.
India broke off the four-year peace process, or Composite Dialogue that had eased tensions, after Islamist gunmen killed 166 people in Mumbai in November 2008, blaming the carnage on Lashkar-e-Taiba and "official" agencies.
It has conditioned a return to peace talks on Pakistan bringing the perpetrators to justice and dismantling militant groups.
"It's a good beginning especially when we consider the events of the last one and a half years," said Rasool Bakhsh Raees, professor of political science at Pakistan's Lahore University of Management Sciences.
"I don't think India can stop Pakistan from raising other issues because and Pakistan will be in a position to talk about other issues as well.
"We may see a broadening of talks and the agenda at a later stage. That is a natural process of diplomacy," he said.
Pakistani officials have sought to deflect some US pressure to do more in the fight against Al-Qaeda and Taliban, by claiming that the perceived threat from India limits its military capacity to fight militants.