New Delhi: Foreign Secretary Subrahmanyan Jaishankar pledged to improve relations with Pakistan and  on Tuesday after the first meeting with his counterpart since India called off talks aimed at easing the rivals’ many disputes last year.

Jaishankar stopped short of announcing a resumption of the talks on his trip, officially to discuss issues related to the South Asia Association for Regional Cooperation, after meetings with his Pakistani counterpart, Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry.

“We are going to work together to find common ground and narrow differences,” Jaishankar told reporters. He said the two sides agreed to cooperate on cross-border terrorism.

“We agreed that ensuring peace and tranquillity on the border was vital,” he said.

India reiterates its concerns on cross-border terrorism, including on the Mumbai attack case, said Jaishankar.

The Pakistani side had expressed hope for resuming negotiations known as the Composite Dialogue, so-called because they aim to address multiple overlapping issues including Kashmir, cross-border terrorism and disputes over their border and water.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi in August abruptly cancelled a round of talks in Islamabad out of anger that Pakistan’s envoy in New Delhi had hosted Kashmiri separatists in preparation.

Tension between the nuclear-armed neighbours has resulted in both armies firing across the border in Kashmir several times in the past year. At least a dozen people were killed and thousands forced to flee from their homes in the latest fighting in January.

(Courtesy: The Indian Express)