Pakistan, India hold talks on anti-terrorism efforts

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan and India discussed cooperation in efforts to fight terrorism Tuesday as part of a wide-ranging dialogue aimed at resolving outstanding disputes between the nuclear-armed rivals.

The talks between top Interior Ministry officials come after a spate of bomb attacks in both countries in recent months, and as Pakistan battles al Qaeda militants and their Pakistani allies who have unleashed a wave of violence across the country.

"The agenda of the talks include anti-terrorism measures, anti-narcotics measures, the exchange of civilian prisoners and cooperation between the FIA and the CID," a Pakistani Interior Ministry spokesman said, referring to two countries' main crime investigation agencies.

"It is certainly a confidence-building measure."

The one-day security talks come a day before Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi is due to travel to India for a four-day visit, during which he will hold talks on all bilateral issues, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said.

The neighbors have fought three wars since their independence in 1947 and nearly went to war again in 2002. They launched a peace process in 2004 and have since taken several confidence-building measures that have led to better ties.

But they have made little progress on their main dispute over the Himalayan region of Kashmir, which both countries claim in full but rule in part.

Their so-called Composite Dialogue came under stress after a bomb attack on the Indian embassy in Kabul in July that killed 58 people, and which India blamed on Pakistani spies, and a series of violations of a ceasefire on their Kashmir border.

Pakistan, while denying involvement in the Kabul blast, decries what it sees as excessive Indian influence across its western border in Afghanistan.

BACK ON TRACK

The peace process was put back on track after a meeting in September between Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and new Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly.

Zadari told a weekend conference in India via a video link that Pakistan was willing to commit to a policy of no first use of nuclear weapons, and suggested a pact to prevent their use.

But many in India doubt the effectiveness of Zardari's writ over the country's nuclear assets that are manned by the army. Pakistan and India conducted tit-for-tat nuclear tests in 1998.

Immediately after its 1998 tests, India declared a moratorium on further tests and offered a no-first-use arrangement. Pakistan did not reciprocate the Indian offer.

In another sign of better ties, Pakistan released 99 Indian prisoners from a jail in Karachi Tuesday. Most of the Indians are fishermen arrested for violating Pakistan's territorial waters, police said.

(Additional reporting by Imtiaz Shah; Editing by Robert Birsel)