India, Pakistan Have "Very Good Talks, " Signal Thaw

[Elmore Furth]

Source: Reuters

THIMPHU, Bhutan (Reuters) - The prime ministers of India and Pakistan held "very good talks" Thursday and asked their officials to take steps as soon as possible to normalize relations, officials said, signaling an unexpected thaw.

Relations between the nuclear-armed rivals went into a diplomatic freeze after India blamed Pakistan-based militants for the Mumbai attacks in November 2008. That renewed tension between the two and a proxy war for influence had been seen as hampering U.S. led efforts to bring peace to Afghanistan.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani met while in Bhutan for a summit of South Asian leaders, their first meeting in nine months.

"The idea was on renewal of dialogue; to understand the state of affairs," Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao told a news conference after the meeting.


Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2010/04/29/news/news-us-india-pakistan.html?_r=1&ref=news

[applegrove]

1. That is very good news. Pakistan has a lot of work to do to become

a safe place. Getting along with India will mean they can concentrate of muslim radicals tvo the West.