Islamabad - Senior Indian and Pakistani officials on Friday began parleys on trade and travel across the de facto border in the disputed Himalayan territory of Kashmir, officials said.

The meeting was earlier scheduled for July 10 but had to be postponed because the Indian diplomat who was to lead it flew to Afghan capital Kabul after the deadly suicide attack on the Indian embassy that killed at least 60 people.

Pakistan Foreign Ministry's Director General for South Asia Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry was heading the Pakistani delegation while the Indian side was led by Indian External Affairs Ministry's Joint Secretary TCA Raghvan.

The talks focused on launch of a truck service between Muzaffarabad and Srinagar. Both sides will also consider proposals to facilitate travel across the Line of Control
(LoC) by opening more routes for passenger bus service.

The two nuclear-armed archrivals launched a so-called peace process in 2004 and since then had taken several "confidence-building measures" to normalize their straining relations. However, no headway has been made towards settling the decades-old Kashmir dispute.

As part of the process, the two countries are also observing a ceasefire on LoC for the last four years, but in recent months there have been occasional violations of the truce.

In May, India alleged that one of its soldiers was killed in "unprovoked firing" by Pakistani troops in Poonch district along the border. (dpa)