For the first time in almost year, India and Pakistan resumed peace talks yesterday despite Indian claims that its neighbour was behind the train bombings that killed 186 people in Bombay in July.

Shiv Shankar Menon, India’s Foreign Secretary, met Riaz Mohammed Khan, his Pakistani counterpart, in Delhi to revive the peace negotiations that were suspended indefinitely after the Bombay attack.

That they were even meeting was an achievement in itself given the recent bitter exchanges between the nuclear-armed neighbours who have fought three wars since their independence from Britain in 1947.

The talks were the first test of a new joint anti-terrorism initiative set up after a meeting between Manmohan Singh, India’s Prime Minister, and Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan’s President, in Cuba in September.

But there were slim hopes for a breakthrough in the peace process that was launched in 2003 and remains bogged down in an emotive dispute over Kashmir, the mountainous region claimed by both India and Pakistan.

In a reminder of the continuing unrest there, a car bomb injured 16 people yesterday near an Indian military camp in Srinagar, Kashmir’s summer capital.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but police said they suspected Pakistan-backed Islamic militants who have been waging a campaign against Indian rule since 1989.

India has accused Pakistan’s Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI) agency of masterminding a string of similar attacks, as well as the Bombay train bombings.

Prior to yesterday’s talks, Indian officials said they were not yet ready to present Pakistan with detailed evidence of the ISI’s alleged role in the Bombay blasts but they vowed to push Pakistan to take concrete steps to back up its earlier promises to curb militant activity on Indian soil.

"Terrorism is an important issue because earlier talks were suspended because of public outrage after the Mumbai blasts," said Pranab Mukherjee, India’s Foreign Minister.

"I would like them, Pakistan, to stick to assurances which they have given."

Last night, India described the first of the two days of talks as "very extensive and constructive", while Pakistan described them as "cordial".

Navtej Sarna, the Indian Foreign Ministry spokesman, said the two sides "discussed the menace of terrorism and the proposed joint mechanism, as well as Jammu and Kashmir".

They also covered "confidence-building measures such as travel, civilian prisoners, non-conventional and conventional security issues and economic and commercial issues".

Tomorrow the two sides are expected to tackle the proposed demilitarisation of Kashmir’s Siachen glacier - the world’s highest and coldest battlefield.

Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister, said on Monday that a swift deal on Siachen was possible.

"Given the political will, we have narrowed down our differences enough for us to have a decision on Siachen within a matter of days," he said.

But analysts dismissed his comments as a negotiating ploy to put pressure on India, which has controlled strategic heights on the 6,300-metre glacier since 1987.

India wants to clearly demarcate both sides’ troop positions to prevent Pakistan from moving in its soldiers if India withdraws from the heights. But Pakistan opposes that on the grounds that it would be tacit acceptance of India’s claims to Siachen.

In the absence of a breakthrough on any of the major issues, analysts said the main achievement of the talks was likely to be an agreement to meet again in the near future.

"The main question is not whether the joint terror mechanism will deliver. It is about India’s ability to construct a framework of risks and rewards to Pakistan on cross-border terrorism," said C. Raja Mohan, strategic affairs editor at the Indian Express newspaper.