The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, Jammu

Premier Manmohan Singh Friday said he hoped that India and Pakistan would be able to put their past differences aside and make progress in peace talks set to be resumed next month.

Singh, on a two-day visit to the southern Kashmiri city of Jammu, said he had been "heartened by the very positive statements made by the new leaders (of Pakistan)," in office after elections in February.

"I hope that we (India and Pakistan) will be able to put the past behind us and that we can move forward with a sense of urgency, not inhibited by false fears or narrow agendas," Singh said.

New Delhi will continue its attempts to "deepen its dialogue with the democratically-elected government," in Islamabad, he added.

India and Pakistan have fought three wars since independence from Britain in 1947, two of them over the disputed Himalayan territory of Kashmir, but they launched a wide-ranging peace dialogue four years ago. The nuclear-armed rivals announced earlier this month that they would review the fourth round of talks during a visit by Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon to Islamabad on May 20-21.