India says Pakistan talks 'crucial', Gilani upbeat

By Rina Chandran

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt (Reuters) - Pakistan's prime minister said on Tuesday he hoped a meeting in Egypt with his Indian counterpart would get peace talks back on track after last year's Mumbai attacks.

India's foreign minister S.M. Krishna described Thursday's planned meeting, on the sidelines of a Non-Aligned Movement summit in Egypt's resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, as "crucial".

Pakistani Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani said the two countries, which have fought three wars since independence in 1947, had been "moving in the right direction" until last November's militant attacks on Mumbai that killed 175 people.

He said the attacks, and the freeze that India then put on the talks, had only benefited the militants.

"When there will be more interaction, I think that will pave the way for the composite dialogue and for more interaction with the Indian government," he said as he set off for Egypt.

"I am sure that such interactions would be really beneficial for the country," Gilani said.

Speaking in Sharm el-Sheikh, Krishna declined to elaborate on what his prime minister, Manmohan Singh, would discuss with Gilani.

"Let us wait for the outcome of that crucial meeting," Krishna told reporters. Top diplomats from the two countries were due to meet later on Tuesday or Wednesday.