Indian and Pakistani Leaders to Meet for Peace Talks in Delhi

Posted July 26th, 2011 at 2:50 am (UTC-5)
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The foreign secretaries of India and Pakistan are set to meet in New Delhi Tuesday, less than two weeks after bomb blasts killed two dozen people in Mumbai, further testing relations between the two countries.

The meeting will set the agenda for Wednesday's higher level peace talks between the foreign ministers of the two countries. Indian Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna and her Pakistani counterpart Hina Rabbani Khar are expected to focus on terrorism, trade and Kashmir-related confidence building measures.

Peace talks recently resumed between the two countries after being suspended following the 2008 attack by Pakistani militants in Mumbai, which killed 166 people.

Earlier this month, a series of bomb blasts killed 24 people and injured more than 130 others in the financial capital of Mumbai. Indian authorities have questioned suspected members of the Indian Mujahideen, a banned group linked to Pakistan's Lashkar-e-Taiba, which has claimed past attacks in India.

Pakistan condemned the violence immediately after the bombings.

No one has claimed responsibility for the blasts.

Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan and claimed in full by both. Muslim separatists have been fighting for Kashmir's independence from Hindu-majority India or a merger with Muslim-majority Pakistan. Thousands have been killed in the insurgency.