Foreign Ministers Of India, Pakistan Hold Peace Talks

Indian Foreign Minister S. M. Krishna (left) with his Pakistani counterpart Hina Rabbani Khar prior to a meeting in New Delhi

The foreign ministers of India and Pakistan held confidence-building talks in the Indian capital of New Delhi today, their first meeting since peace talks between the two nations resumed earlier this year.

In upbeat comments after the meeting, Indian Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna said bilateral ties were back "on the right track."

Hina Rabbani Khar, Pakistan's youngest and first female foreign minister, spoke of a "new era" of cooperation.

Both said they had a responsibility to mend ties to reduce tension in the volatile region.

The peace talks between the nuclear-armed neighbors resumed in February. India suspended an earlier round of peace talks after 166 people were killed in 2008 in attacks in the city of Mumbai blamed on Pakistan-based Islamic militants.

The main issue of dispute between the two South Asian nations, who have fought three wars against each other since they became independent in 1947, is the divided, mostly Muslim Himalayan region of Kashmir.

Separatists began an insurgency against Indian rule there in 1989.

compiled from agency reports