New Delhi: India and Pakistan resume peace process this week, with the threat of dialogue collapsing because of bomb attacks in Mumbai trains which killed over 180 people.
The meeting of delegates of the two countries on the sidelines of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) conference to be held in Dhaka from August 1-2, comes after India put off talks scheduled for earlier this month in the wake of the July 11 train attacks.
"There is no cause for alarm. All that has happened so far is postponement of senior official level talks," a senior Indian foreign ministry official said.
"The Mumbai blasts were a serious development and we had to respond to it. But there is no need to jump to conclusions that the peace process would be allowed to collapse," he said.
While the talks are not be expected to produce any breakthrough, even a mere reiteration of commitment to the peace process by both sides would go some distance in easing the strain on the peace process, analysts said.
"The first thing they have to do is resume the peace process," said a retired Pakistani army lieutenant-general and an independent analyst,Talat Masood.
The India-Pakistan deliberations in Dhaka are expected to overshadow the SAARC conference.
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