The talks offer a tiny step toward stability in South Asia, but the recent bombing in India´s western city Pune shows the nuclear rivals´ ties may be as fragile as ever.

Pune was the first Islamist militant attack on Indian soil since gunmen rampaged through Mumbai, killing 166 people.

No one has been charged with the February 13th Pune attack, but many Indians say it points to local Islamists with ties or backing from Pakistan.

The Indian government reacted swiftly to the Pune bombing, saying 4-year-old peace talks which broke off after the Mumbai killings, would still go ahead.

Washington has long sought peace between the two countries.
That would allow Pakistan to withdraw troops from its Indian border to focus on the battle against the Taliban and al Qaeda.

Residents of Kashmir´s summer capital Srinagar feel more needs to be done regarding Kashmir.

A leader of  a group of  Kashmiri political separatists says the peace talks should yield some results.

Many in Pakistani controlled Kashmir believe the upcoming talks are a result of U-S efforts to bring stability to Afghanistan and Pakistan.