India-Pakistan talks resume on Feb. 25

The meeting marks a significant thawing of relations between the two countries, which have long been marred by disputes over Kashmir and plummeted after the Mumbai attack, which India blamed on Pakistan-based militants.

The United States has been pressuring both countries to resume talks, hoping that reduced tensions between the two sides will help its strategy against militants in Afghanistan and in Pakistan's tribal belt.

Though there is no fixed agenda, a Pakistani Foreign Office official said: "We will pick up the thread from the Sharm El-Sheikh summit meeting between Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh."

A statement from Gilani's office said Pakistan would raise "all core issues" at the talks and urge India to resolve them quickly.

Pakistan wants the resumption of the process of "composite dialogue" which came to a grinding halt after the Mumbai attack. But India has so far offered secretarial-level talks minus the main issue of Kashmir.

If tensions between Pakistan and India ease, it may enable Islamabad to shift some troops away from its border with India to fight Taleban militants on the Afghan border; Kazinform cites Arab News. See www.arabnews.com for full version.