India talks bombings and border fire with Pakistan

Indian security personnel search for evidence near a bomb blast site in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad July 27, 2008.

COLOMBO (Reuters) - The Indian and Pakistani foreign ministers held talks in Colombo on Thursday against a background of an increase in border skirmishes and bomb attacks on Indian cities that threaten a sluggish peace process.

India's Pranab Mukherjee gave no details of his meeting with Pakistan's Shah Mehmood Qureshi, but said the two nations' prime ministers would meet on Saturday on the sidelines of a South Asian summit.

"We shared our perception about our bilateral relations, about composite (peace) dialogue and certain recent events," Mukherjee told reporters.

The 2003 ceasefire on the de facto border that divides the disputed Kashmir region was a key confidence-building step by the two sides. Recent violations include three exchanges of fire on the dividing line this month alone.

"A lot of steam had been let out of the pressure cooker," Qureshi told reporters separately, speaking of the meeting. "The dish we are going to cook is going to be for the betterment of the region."

Asked about the ceasefire violations, Qureshi said: "By and large it (ceasefire) has been maintained. Minor incidents can't be ruled out. Pakistan deeply respects the ceasefire."

The South Asian regional summit is also being held in the shadow of a series of bomb blasts in India, and one at India's embassy in Kabul this month, which India blamed on Pakistan's spy agency. The attacks killed more than 100 people.

India said after the Kabul attack that its peace process with Pakistan was "under stress" because its nuclear-armed foe was "inciting terror" inside India and trying to hit its interests abroad.

Pakistan has rejected the charge, saying peace talks were "on track" and India had no evidence to back its accusations.

Qureshi said the two sides had a "solid mechanism" in place to iron out differences, an anti-terrorism platform formed in 2006 to share information and assist investigations.

The neighbors came close to a fourth post-independence war in 2002. The start of the peace process in 2003 brought warmer ties, but little progress in their main dispute over Kashmir.

The two countries' security concerns are likely yet again to cloud the summit agenda of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), which was formed in 1985 to boost regional economic growth but has remained a talking shop.

SAARC groups Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan.