Peace with Pakistan 'desirable'

Mukherjee: Challenges ahead

India's newly appointed foreign minister has said it is desirable that India and Pakistan live in peace.

Pranab Mukherjee, a veteran politician who moved from his post of defence minister on Tuesday, said peace was essential for economic growth.

He added that India would share "certain" evidence with Islamabad of Pakistani involvement in the July train bombings in Mumbai.

Next month, the two countries are to resume stalled peace talks.

'Critical time'

"As we believe that we cannot alter our neighbour, it is desirable to live with our neighbours in peace and to create a tension-free situation on our borders amongst our neighbours in the region," Mr Mukherjee told reporters on his first day in his new job.

The BBC's Sanjoy Majumder in Delhi says that Mr Mukherjee is taking charge at a critical time for Indian diplomacy.

Next month, India and Pakistan resume peace talks which have been stalled since the Mumbai bombings that left nearly 200 people dead.

India has blamed militants based in Pakistan for the attacks, leading to an exchange of angry rhetoric between the two neighbours.

Pakistan was swift to condemn the bombings and has repeatedly called on India to back its claims with proof, something which Delhi has yet to do.

Mr Mukherjee, 70, took over his new portfolio from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who had been acting as foreign minister for nearly a year.

The post fell vacant last November when the previous incumbent, Natwar Singh, resigned after a UN inquiry named him in the Iraq oil-for-food scandal.

Mr Mukherjee is a prominent Gandhi family loyalist who did not win a popular election until 2004.

Among the many challenges he faces will be steering India's growing relations with the United States at a time when a controversial nuclear deal between the two countries is stuck in the US Senate.