The foreign secretaries of India and Pakistan began two-day talks Monday that will include their first formal dialogue on disputed Kashmir since they launched a peace process a year ago, officials said. Pakistan's Riaz Khokar and his Indian counterpart Shyam Saran will also review progress made in two rounds of negotiations held since February, aimed at ending 57 years of hostility between the neighboring countries. "The foreign secretaries will discuss what progress has been made in the whole (peace) process, where we stand and where we can go forward from here," said Pakistan Foreign Ministry spokesman Masood Khan. Khokar and Saran _ are expected to set a calendar for the next round of talks by senior officials on issues including border disputes, fighting drugs and terrorism, economic cooperation and nuclear confidence-building. "One track has moved forward quite expeditiously and that is steps taken for building confidence," Khan said. "Progress on peace and security and the Kashmir issue has been a bit slow. There is a realization of this among the people and in the leadership that this needs to be taken forward." The foreign secretaries are expected to discuss Kashmir on the second day of the talks. Over the weekend, Saran told reporters that Kashmir was a "complicated issue" and it was necessary to "build confidence" to resolve it. Khan said the foreign secretaries would devise a future strategy for the peace process and "clean up the atmosphere that got polluted in the past few days." "It will be good if we get an early result from the talks, but if it takes time we should be patient and steadfast because talks and negotiations with each other are better than fighting with each other."
