"The Indian foreign secretary has invited her Pakistani counterpart to New Delhi. The meeting may take place later this month," the official said, adding that "terrorism will remain at the core of the discussions". Pakistan welcomed the offer. "There are now signals emanating from India that they are willing to talk bilaterally," Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi told Reuters.
"We welcome this ... if it leads to resumption of the composite dialogue." Washington sees better India-Pakistan relations as crucial so that Islamabad, not having to worry about its eastern border, can focus on fighting the Taliban on its western border with Afghanistan.
Until now, Indian and Pakistan officials had met only on the sidelines of multilateral meetings, with New Delhi reluctant either to hold bilateral talks or resume the broader peace process for fear of upsetting public opinion in India. The offer to resume talks comes ahead of a visit to Pakistan by India's minister of internal security for a regional meeting this month.
Palaniappan Chidambaram's February 26-27 trip is the first high-level visit since the attacks. Indian foreign ministry officials said Chidambaram would meet his Pakistani counterpart, Rehman Malik, and other officials for talks that may have a narrow focus on what action Islamabad has taken in regard to the Mumbai attacks.
US pressure apart, India's willingness for dialogue with Pakistan now could be aimed at boosting the credibility of the civilian government in Islamabad in the face of military hawks in the army and its military intelligence, Indian analysts say. New Delhi may finally be realising the limitations of its strategy of "coercive diplomacy" as global sympathy for the Mumbai attacks wanes and Western powers press it harder to help stabilise the region by reassuring Pakistan.
"India was reviewing its post-Mumbai response, which was to keep things on hold, and see what kind of options it has now," said Uday Bhaskar, head of New Delhi-based strategic affairs think tank National Maritime Foundation. "London in a way cleared the perception in India, that whatever we may feel about the culpability of Pakistan, I think the dominant view seems to be that you have to engage with the Pakistanis."