New Delhi  - India will raise the issue of increased infiltration across the line of control dividing Kashmir and cross- border terrorism during talks with Pakistani officials in Islamabad next week, Foreign secretary Shiv Shankar Menon said Wednesday.

Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee is scheduled to travel to Islamabad to hold talks with his Pakistani counterpart Makhdoom Shah Mehmood Qureshi on May 21.

The foreign secretaries of India and Pakistan are scheduled to meet a day earlier to review progress on the fourth round of a bilateral "composite dialogue" being held between the two countries to resolve contentious issues including border disputes and differences over Kashmir.

This will be the first formal high-level engagement between the two South Asian neighbours since the Pakistan Peoples Party-led coalition government came to power in Pakistan in March.

Mukherjee's visit comes in the shadow of a terrorist attack in the northern Indian city of Jaipur on Tuesday that left 63 dead.

It also comes days after reports of infiltration bids by suspected militants across the line of control in Kashmir and a fresh bout of alleged firing by Pakistani Rangers which India says violates a ceasefire agreed in 2003. Pakistan has denied the charge.

"Stopping cross-border terror is very high on our priority," Menon was quoted as saying at a press briefing by PTI and IANS news agencies.

Asked whether India would raise the issue of terrorism with Pakistan, Menon said: "We will certainly raise the issue."

"The stopping of violence is in some ways a necessary condition for what we are trying to achieve," Menon said.

Indian officials and politicians have mentioned a "foreign hand" in context of the Jaipur blasts but refrained from naming Pakistan or any other country.

"We are in the process of investigating the incident. Let's not jump to conclusions," Menon said.

He said infiltration was a problem. "We will deal with it on the ground and at bilateral level. We will take it up with them (Pakistani officials)," he said.

The two sides are expected to discuss a range of bilateral issues including trade and travel across their common border and the fate of Sarabjit Singh, an Indian prisoner on the death row in Pakistan.

Nuclear-capable India and Pakistan have fought three wars since their independence from British rule in 1947, two of them over the disputed Kashmir region.

The two sides are expected to launch a fifth round of the composite dialogue after the May 20-21 talks. (dpa)