India, Pakistan to Hold Thursday Peace Talks

Talks Resume After Over Two Years

The last round of peace talks between India and Pakistan collapsed in November 2008, in the wake of the massive Mumbai terror siege. Since then the relationship between the two sides has soured considerably, but now seems to be warming up again.

That is because officials now say that the peace talks will officially resume with a meeting on Thursday, the start of two days of talks in Islamabad. The talks will be followed by more talks in India next month.

The talks are not expected to address any major issues, at least to start with, but the fact that they are taking place at all suggests that, after two and a half years of virtually no meaningful contact, the two sides might finally be patching up some of their differences.

Pakistan’s government said the two sides would arrange “friendly exchanges” but would also discuss issues related to Jammu and Kashmir and the security situation along their common border.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.