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India upbeat after first round of talks with Pakistan

India hailed “extremely positive” peace talks with Pakistan on Monday with both countries looking to build on a recent warming in relations brought on by some successful “cricket diplomacy.”
Home secretaries from the two nations met in New Delhi to discuss counter-terrorism, the 2008 Mumbai attacks and the drugs trade in talks that are part of a formal peace process re-starting between the neighbours.
“The talks were extremely positive. Progress was made in… the right direction,” India’s G.K. Pillai said after a six-hour meeting at a luxury hotel in the capital.
He promised a joint statement on Tuesday, the second day of the talks between him and his counterpart Chaudhary Qamar Zaman. Both men are the highest ranking officials in their home ministries.
The meeting comes amid intense excitement in the nuclear-armed neighbours about the semi-final of the cricket World Cup on Wednesday, which will see India host Pakistan on home turf for the first time since 2007.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has invited his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani to watch the game with him in what will be a rare meeting between the leaders, who last sat down for talks in Bhutan in April last year.
“The entire country has appreciated this gesture of the honorable prime minister of India,” Zaman said on Sunday as he travelled to New Delhi.
In a further goodwill gesture, Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, who Singh also invited to the game, agreed Sunday to free an Indian national who was jailed for life more than 23 years ago.

18:37 | |

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