The top diplomats of Pakistan and India will meet for talks in New Delhi on Feb. 25, the Pakistani prime minister's office said Friday. India suspended a four-year-old peace process with Pakistan after an attack on the Indian city of Mumbai by Pakistan-based militants in 2008. India had been demanding action against the militants it says were behind the assault before the peace process could resume, but this month offered to hold high-level talks despite little progress in Pakistan's prosecution of seven suspects. The United States has been urging the two countries to resume engagement to help stabilise the region, especially Afghanistan, where the neighbors have been competing for influence. Indian officials say they offered Pakistan open-ended talks on all issues. But Pakistan has been pushing for the resumption of the full peace process, which centred on a so-called composite dialogue, covering all problems, including their decades old dispute over the divided Kashmir region. The two countries' top foreign ministry officials, their foreign secretaries, would meet in New Delhi on Feb. 25, Prime Minister Yusaf Raza Gilani's office said in a statement. “(The) Pakistan side should raise all the core issues and impress upon India the need for the expeditious resolution through resumption of composite dialogue,” it said. “The prime minister directed the foreign secretary ... that his talks with his Indian counterpart should be result-oriented and meaningful,” it said.
