Pakistan envoy arrives in India

Mr Khan crossed the Wagah border into India

Pakistan's new high commissioner to India is due to arrive in Delhi to take up his post.

The envoy, Aziz Ahmed Khan, crossed the land border at Wagah, in the Indian state of Punjab on Monday morning.

He is on his way to the Indian capital where he is expected to arrive on Monday evening.

His arrival is another step towards mending relations between the two nuclear neighbours who came close to war last year.

Diplomatic and transport links were broken after militants attacked the Indian parliament in December, 2001.

Mr Khan's predecessor, Ashraf Jahangir Kazi, was asked to return home by Delhi which recalled its own envoy from Islamabad.

India blamed Pakistan for the attack, a charge denied by Islamabad, and massed troops on its border, which led Pakistan to do the same.

Sustained international diplomatic pressure helped pull the two states back from the brink of war after a prolonged confrontation.

Diplomatic thaw

Mr Khan, who arrived in India with his wife, said he hoped relations between the two countries would improve with his arrival and "many misunderstandings removed".

"We will try to resolve all disputes including the Kashmir issue with meaningful and purposeful talks," he said.

Mr Khan, 62, was the official spokesman for the Pakistan foreign ministry before being appointed to his new post.

He has also served in Pakistan's high commission in Delhi in the late 1980s as the deputy high commissioner.

Delhi has already named Shivshankar Menon as its new high commissioner in Islamabad.

Mr Menon is currently India's ambassador to China and is expected to take up his new position later this month.

The warming of relations between India and Pakistan began in April when India's Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, offered what he said was the "hand of friendship" to Pakistan during a speech in Kashmir.

In the preceding 18 months, the two countries had come close to war over the disputed territory, which has marred relations between India and Pakistan for the past 50 years.