India | Top Delhi, Pakistan security officials hold talks in Bangkok

The top security officials from India and Pakistan held talks in Thailand’s capital yesterday, signaling a resumption of the rival countries’ on-again, off-again peace dialogue.
The South Asian neighbors’ national security advisers discussed issues including peace and security, terrorism, the disputed region of Kashmir and ways to maintain peace along the countries’ shared border, according to a joint statement issued in New Delhi and Islamabad.
The meeting, which also included the nations’ foreign secretaries, marks a thaw in the recent frostiness that had crept into bilateral relations. Talks between the two national security advisers were called off in August after the sides disagreed on the agenda for discussions.
The statement said Sunday’s meeting in Bangkok was held in a “candid, cordial and constructive atmosphere.”
“It was agreed to carry forward the constructive engagement” between the two countries, it said.
This past week, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistani counterpart, Nawaz Sharif, had an unscheduled meeting at the Paris climate change talks.
Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj is expected to visit Pakistan today to attend a meeting on Afghanistan, said a ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
Since independence from Britain in 1947, India and Pakistan have fought three wars, two of them over Kashmir, the Himalayan region that both claim in its entirety.
Nirmala George, New Delhi, AP