India-Pakistan air talks fail

The Delhi-Lahore bus route resumed last month

Pakistan and India have failed to agree to resume air links, despite two days of talks in the Pakistani city of Rawalpindi.

A joint statement said there would be more talks after "mutual consultation".

The news came as Indian deputy Prime Minister LK Advani said reconciliation between the two countries had been affected by Monday's bomb attacks in Bombay (Mumbai).

Pakistan has denied any responsibility for the blasts, which left some 50 people dead.

Cordial

The Rawalpindi talks "provided an opportunity to the two sides to understand each other's respective position" the statement said.

And it said the negotiations were held in a "cordial and business-like atmosphere". No date has yet been fixed for more talks.

Inspecting the wreckage of one of the Bombay bombs

However, in Delhi an Indian External Affairs Ministry spokesman blamed Pakistan for the failure of the talks.

"An agreement could have been reached... this did not happen because of Pakistan's negative approach and its attempts to bring in extraneous issues," the spokesman said.

The talks were overshadowed by the aftermath of Monday's attacks in Bombay and by violence in Srinagar on Wednesday, where Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee has been attending a conference.

Mr Advani told journalists in Srinagar that India and Pakistan had been engaged in confidence-building measures.

But he warned: "I am sure that our neighbour would be conscious of the fact that happenings of the kind that happened yesterday (Wednesday) here or in Mumbai... do affect the whole process adversely."

On Tuesday Mr Advani stopped short of directly blaming Pakistan for the Bombay attacks. But he insisted Pakistan hand over 19 suspects wanted in connection with other attacks.

Pakistan promptly denied giving shelter to any such suspects.

India cut off transport links with Pakistan after militants attacked the Indian parliament in December, 2001.

It accused the Pakistani Government of helping Pakistan-based militants to carry out the attack - something Islamabad has always denied.

The two sides restored diplomatic relations earlier this year, and the overland bus link between Delhi and Lahore re-opened in July.