India and Pakistan kick off nuclear talks

India and Pakistan began their first ever talks yesterday on how to reduce the risk of nuclear war, six years after each successfully tested nuclear bombs.

The two days of meetings in New Delhi come a week before broader high-level talks.

"Both sides approached the talks in a positive framework, aimed at taking the process forward, and making them result-oriented," India's Foreign Ministry said in a brief statement after the first day's session.

"They (India and Pakistan) also exchanged views on their respective security concepts and nuclear doctrines," it said.

New Delhi's stated nuclear policy is not to strike first with nuclear weapons, but Pakistan, worried about India's growing conventional military superiority, has made no such pledge.

"The differences in these two doctrines is a major obstacle that must be dealt with in these and future talks," said Pran Chopra, South Asian analyst and commentator.

The two sides were also are expected to discuss the establishment of a hotline to prevent any sudden nuclear escalation.

Pakistan's acting foreign secretary, Tariq Osman Hyder, is leading an eight-member team with senior Indian Foreign Ministry official Sheel Kant Sharma and other officials. The delegations also paid a courtesy call on Indian Foreign Minister Natwar Singh and National Security Adviser Jyotindra Nath Dixit.

The nuclear talks were delayed a month by India's elections. They precede discussions next Sunday between the civil servants in charge of foreign ministries on issues including disputed Kashmir.

The conflict in the scenic Himalayan region has delayed the nuclear talks for six years.

"Nuclear trust is so important. It will create a better atmosphere and form a stronger basis for proceeding on other issues including Kashmir," Chopra said.

"The aim of the (nuclear) talks is to agree on the broad agenda for future talks. It is unrealistic to expect a quick breakthrough. It took the superpowers over 30 years to break their nuclear impasse," defence analyst Jasjit Singh said.

"But whether now or later, both sides will have to talk about reducing armed conflict across its full spectrum to decrease the risk of a nuclear clash."

India and Pakistan have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir, where Muslim militants are fighting New Delhi's forces in the portion held by India.

In the latest violence, Indian soldiers gunned down five Muslim rebels overnight who were trying to sneak into Indian Kashmir from Pakistan through the Line of Control (LoC) or ceasefire line, an army spokesman said. The LoC divides Kashmir between India and Pakistan.

Elsewhere in the region, five people, including two Indian army officers, were wounded in two separate insurgent attacks.

The two country's armies fought heavy clashes in Kashmir in 1999 and came close to war in mid-2002 after insurgents based in Pakistan attacked India's parliament, triggering international fears of a nuclear exchange.

But an offer of peace last year by Atal Behari Vajpayee, then India's prime minister, drew an encouraging response from Islamabad. Transport links and full diplomatic ties were restored and the aging leader met Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf in January in Pakistan.

More high-level diplomatic contact takes place on Monday when Singh meets his Pakistani counterpart Kursheed Mehmood Kasuri for the first time on the sidelines of a regional conference in China.