NEW DELHI: Indian and Pakistani officials plan to hold discussions in Bangladesh next week, the first meeting between the two sides after New Delhi put off peace talks over the Mumbai bomb blasts, an Indian official said on Monday.
The talks between Indian Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran and his Pakistani counterpart Riaz Mohammad Khan -- bureaucrats who head the respective foreign ministries -- would be held on the sidelines of a South Asian conference, the foreign ministry official said.
The talks between the bureaucrats was expected to be followed by a meeting between the Pakistani foreign minister and India''s junior foreign minister, he said. The meetings are expected to be held between July 31 and Aug. 2, he added.
"It's a good opportunity for the two sides to meet without it looking like formal talks," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "It will allow us to press Pakistan to live up to the commitments it has made to end terrorism."
New Delhi put off talks between Saran and Khan, due last week, after suspicion over the July 11 Mumbai train bombings fell on Islamist militants based in Pakistan.
Pakistan has denied any involvement in the bombings, in which more than 180 people were killed. Islamabad expressed dismay at the decision to put off the talks and said the peace process should not be linked to the bomb attacks.
Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf appealed to India to avoid a 'blame game' over the bombings and called New Delhi''s decision to delay peace talks a victory for terrorists.
The Saran-Khan talks were to review progress in the peace process, launched in 2004 after the nuclear-powered rivals came close to the brink of another war.
The peace process has made slow progress, particularly over the central dispute over Kashmir.
In recent months, rising separatist violence in Kashmir had hurt momentum with India accusing Pakistan of failing to keep a promise that it would not allow its territory to be used by anti-Indian militants.
