India, Pakistan set to resume talks

Top Indian and Pakistani security officials and diplomats meet today to resume anti-terror talks as part of a peace process launched by the South Asian rivals to cool regional tensions, an official said.
The ongoing talks, which were launched earlier this year are intended to put in place a regular mechanism to share intelligence on cross-border militant activity.
An Indian official said Sunday New Delhi was likely to prod Islamabad to share information it may have on a February 18 bombing in India of a Pakistan-bound train, which killed 68 people, mostly Pakistanis.
"In our last meeting earlier this year we handed over the photograph of a suspect, believed to be a Pakistani, and now we want to know what follow-up action has been taken," said the home ministry official, who did not wish to be named.
India claims Pakistan-based militants were behind the attack on the Samjhauta (Friendship) Express train as well as in a string of other bombings across India since 2006.
The one-day meeting in New Delhi is part of a slow-moving peace process launched by the nuclear-armed rivals in 2004 to cool regional tensions.
Officials, however, said Friday's suicide bombing in the Pakistani city of Karachi which killed 139 people during former premier Benazir Bhutto's homecoming from years of exile was likely to overshadow the talks.
"It seems we will be going through the motions only and one cannot expect any meaningful talks in view of the devastating attack in Pakistan," the Indian official said.
The talks also follow renewed accusations from New Delhi that Islamabad continues to support attacks in India.
India's national security advisor M.K. Narayanan claimed Pakistan, already accused of backing Islamic rebels in Indian Kashmir, was also trying to revive Sikh militancy in the northern state of Punjab.
The allegation came after a weekend bomb attack in a Punjab cinema killed six people and wounded 32.