India broke off a peace dialogue with Pakistan after the Mumbai carnage in November 2008 that left 166 people dead.

Since then, it has repeatedly rebuffed Pakistani calls for resumption, insisting that Islamabad has not done enough to bring the perpetrators of the attacks to justice.

t was a very positive meeting. A step in the right direction,” Qureshi said of the 90-minute meeting between Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani.

Qureshi told reporters the two premiers had acknowledged the “trust deficit” between the South Asian rivals, whose relationship has been effectively frozen since the 2008 Mumbai attacks, which India blamed on Pakistan-based militants.

He added that he and Indian Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna had been given “a mandate” to work out a formula for future dialogue and to “build confidence on either side.”

During his talks with Gilani, the Indian prime minister was “very emphatic that Pakistan has to act, that the terror machine needs to be controlled, needs to be eliminated,”