The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, Colombo

The premiers of India and Pakistan will thrash out a plan this weekend to improve ties strained by border clashes and bomb attacks on Indian targets, Pakistan's foreign minister said Thursday.

Shah Mahmood Qureshi told reporters that he and his Indian counterpart Pranab Mukherjee had "agreed mutually" that their prime ministers "will come out with a comprehensive statement on (future) bilateral engagement."

Qureshi was speaking after the pair met behind closed doors to lay the groundwork for Saturday's talks between India's Manmohan Singh and Pakistan's Yousuf Raza Gilani on the sidelines of a South Asian summit in Colombo.

He added that his talks with Mukherjee had helped "clear the air" between the two nuclear-armed rivals which have fought three wars, two over the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir. "A lot of steam had been let out of the pressure cooker. The dish we're going to cook is going to be for the betterment of the region," he said.

The talks between Gilani and Singh will mark the highest-level interaction between the two countries in 15 months.

Mukherjee was more guarded in his comments, telling reporters separately that the ministers had shared "perceptions about bilateral relations, the composite dialogue (peace talks) and certain recent events."

He declined to elaborate about his meeting with Qureshi, which lasted about an hour, sources close to the talks told AFP.

Escalating tensions between India and Pakistan had threatened to cast a shadow over the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation summit aimed at improving regional economic growth and cooperation, which begins Saturday.

Thursday's meeting, the second between the two sides in a month, came after India said the peace process begun in 2004 was "under stress" after an attack on its Kabul embassy in early July killed at least 41 people.

Afghanistan blamed the suicide bombing on Pakistan's intelligence agency, a claim denied by Islamabad.

India has accused "elements" in Pakistan of responsibility for the attack.

The latest talks came after a string of bomb blasts in India-in the western commercial hub of Ahmedabad and in the southern IT centre of Bangalore over the weekend that killed at least 50 people and injured scores more.

India has not blamed Pakistan for the blasts, but Indian officials suspect the attacks were supported by Pakistan intelligence, according to local media.

The talks also came amid a sudden rise in reported ceasefire violations along the de facto border dividing Kashmir.

Earlier this week, India accused Pakistani troops of crossing the Line of Control in Kashmir's Kupwara sector, the first incursion reported by New Delhi since 1999, when the rivals fought a mini-war in the Kargil peaks on the LoC.

New Delhi also this week reported a second ceasefire violation in the Nowgam sector, north of Indian Kashmir's summer capital Srinagar.

Pakistan has denied both incidents.

"Pakistan feels very strongly about upholding the ceasefire on the LoC, we adhere to such concepts. Now such minor incidents will be sorted out at flag meetings at military levels," Qureshi said.

The two countries agreed to a ceasefire along the LoC in 2003.