INDIAN and Pakistani diplomats held two hours of talks yesterday, their first in three years, to try to reduce tension on the subcontinent.
Delegations led by the Indian Foreign Secretary, Mr Salman Haidar, and his Pakistani counterpart, Mr Shamshad Ahmad, met in an apparently cordial atmosphere at Hyderabad House in New Delhi.
The two sides have agreed to maintain a virtual news blackout until Monday, when the talks are due to end.
"We had formal discussions followed by informal discussions. We discussed all topics," Mr Haidar told reporters after the session.
"The atmosphere was very amicable and friendly and we are very hopeful, something will emerge from it.
Mr Ahmad, who had his arm around Mr Haidar's shoulders as the two emerged from Hyderabad House, said: "We met in a cordial atmosphere... very cordial and very meaningful and we are hopeful.
The archrivals were resuming a dialogue that collapsed in January 1994 over the disputed Himalayan territory of Kashmir.
To Pakistan, Kashmir remains the "core issue", but India is hoping for progress on trade and economic co operation as a means of easing tension between South Asia's threshold nuclear power.
If the talks between the two countries top diplomats go well, the Indian and Pakistani foreign ministers will meet after an April 7th to 9th Non Aligned Movement conference in New Delhi.
Kashmiri separatists held a rally in Srinagar, summer capital of the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, yesterday to protest against their exclusion from the India Pakistan talks.
"It is a historical tragedy that India and Pakistan did not involve the Kashmiris, the principal party, in the peace talks," said a statement by Hurriyat, which groups about 30 religious and political parties which want a plebiscite in Kashmir.
Hurriyat supporters had planned a similar protest outside the venue of the talks in New Delhi, but police prevented the demonstration and arrested 13 of their leaders.
Tension between India and Pakistan, worsened after Kashmiris began a revolt against Indian rule in 1990 in the two thirds of the territory held by New Delhi. Pakistan controls the rest.
India and Pakistan have gone to war three times, since independence from Britain in 1947, twice over Kashmir.