INDIA-PAKISTAN MEETING RAISES HOPES FOR IMPROVED RELATIONS

[India’s foreign secretary, S. Jaishankar, brought up his country’s concern over a terrorist attack in January on an Indian air base in Pathankot, close to the Pakistan border, the ministry statement said. India has said that militants based in Pakistan were involved in that attack.]

By Hari Kumar and Geeta Anand

Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry of Pakistan after a meeting with his

Indian counterpart in New Delhi on Tuesday.

Credit Altaf Qadri/Associated Press

NEW DELHI — The foreign secretaries of India and Pakistan on Tuesday held a brief bilateral meeting on the sidelines of a regional gathering here, a noteworthy development in its own right, and later put out separate statements saying they had discussed several hot-button issues.

“The two foreign secretaries exchanged ideas on taking the relationship forward and agreed to remain in touch,” said a statement from India’s Ministry of External Affairs.

Officials gave no clear idea of when the countries will resume a bilateral peace dialogue that has been stalled since 2008, when militants from Pakistan attacked two hotels and the main train station, a hospital and a Jewish center in Mumbai, India’s financial capital, killing more than 160 people.

The nuclear-armed neighbors have fought three wars since independence and partition in 1947, and tensions remain high, with frequent border skirmishes.

India’s foreign secretary, S. Jaishankar, brought up his country’s concern over a terrorist attack in January on an Indian air base in Pathankot, close to the Pakistan border, the ministry statement said. India has said that militants based in Pakistan were involved in that attack.

The ministry statement said Mr. Jaishankar had also drawn attention to India’s concern about the slow progress in the Pakistani trial of those accused of complicity in the Mumbai attack. India also expressed displeasure over the lack of consular access to a former Indian Navy officer arrested earlier this year and accused by Pakistan of being a spy.

Manzoor Ali Memon, the press minister for the Pakistan High Commission, New Delhi, said in a series of messages on WhatsApp that Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry had raised the issue of Kashmir, the northernmost state in India, which the two countries have fought over sporadically since 1947.

Pakistan also discussed its capture of a former Indian naval officer it accused of spying, the press minister said, adding that ‘‘such acts undermine efforts to normalize relations between the two countries.” In addition, Pakistan said it remained concerned over the Indian investigation of explosions on a train traveling between the countries several years ago, in which 42 Pakistani citizens were killed, the press minister said.

Mr. Memon said Mr. Chaudhry pressed his Indian counterpart for restoring as soon as possible “a sustained, meaningful and comprehensive dialogue process.”

The surprise visit to Lahore last year by India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, to meet Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif of Pakistan raised expectations of improved relations. But as has often happened, those efforts were quickly marred by a violent incident, in this case the attack on the Pathankot air base.

Ashok Malik, senior fellow at the Observer Research Foundation, a New Delhi policy organization, said the statements reflected the different aspirations of the two nations.

“Pakistan hopes to go back to a comprehensive dialogue, including Kashmir and economic issues,” Mr. Malik said, which is what was underway before the Mumbai terrorist attacks.

But Mr. Malik said India’s statements reflect the Modi government’s focus on militancy, almost to the exclusion of other issues.

Still, Mr. Malik said, the fact that the two sides sat down was significant. “Some engagement is better than no engagement,” he said.

@ The New York Times