India opens door for talks

Fears of full-blown war between India and Pakistan receded slightly today with the prospect that Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf may meet for one-to-one talks.

India opened the door for top-level talks after previously resisting international pressure for a meeting. The two leaders may now meet during the South Asian regional summit in Nepal next week.

Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh signalled India's softer stance. Asked after a Cabinet security committee meeting about the possibility of talks between the two leaders, Mr Singh said: "I will see how developments go in Kathmandu."

The United States and other nations have been pressing the nuclear rivals for talks to ease tensions over Kashmiri separatists that have prompted their biggest military build-up in almost 15 years.

In Kashmir, cross-border shelling resumed, leaving at least two Indian soldiers dead, an Indian security forces official said. Police and residents reported new artillery exchanges in the region.

An eight-year-old boy was also seriously wounded when Indian forces fired across the ceasefire line. The Pakistani child was hit during about three hours of intermittent Indian fire into Kotli district. Pakistani troops launched unprovoked firing at four places along the line in Nowshera sector late last night, leading to a fierce gun battle, according to the Indian authorities.

Near Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu-Kashmir state, nine Islamic militants and a soldier were killed when an army convoy was ambushed by militants.

The deaths came despite hopes the crisis would be defused by the arrest in Pakistan of Hafiz Mohammad Saeed for "making inflammatory speeches to incite people to violate law and order".

Until last week, Saeed was the head of Lashkare-Taiba militant group fighting India's rule in the disputed Kashmir region. He gave up that position amid Indian demands for action against Lashkar and another militant group, Jaish-e-Mohammad, for allegedly carrying out the 13 December parliament attack in New Delhi that killed 14 people, including five assailants.

Evening Standard Comment