New Delhi - The foreign ministers of India and Pakistan were expected to discuss their four-year-old peace dialogue at a meeting in New Delhi Wednesday.

Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi was scheduled to arrive in the evening and hold talks with his Indian counterpart Pranab Mukherjee, an Indian Foreign Ministry release said.

The two leaders were expected to discuss a host of bilateral issues including the composite peace dialogue between the nuclear-capable South Asian neighbours that began in 2004, Indian diplomatic officials said.

The high-level meeting comes days after Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari said Pakistan would not be the first to use nuclear weapons in a conflict with India.

Speaking via satellite at a conference in Delhi on Saturday, Zardari said he was in favour of a South Asia non-nuclear treaty.

India and Pakistan have fought three wars since their independence from British rule in 1947, two of them over the disputed region of Kashmir. They came close to fighting a fourth war in 2002.

The two countries launched a composite peace dialogue in 2004 to resolve differences on various counts, including border disputes and Kashmir.

Several confidence-building measures (CBMs) have also been introduced through the dialogue so far, like rail and road links and opening of a trade route between the two regions of Kashmir, one administered by India and the other by Pakistan.

The dialogue stagnated during the past year largely due to political turmoil in Pakistan and Qureshi's visit is expected to provide fresh impetus.

"It will not be structured dialogue, but the two foreign ministers will discuss all aspects of bilateral relations including the ongoing dialogue process, cross-LOC CBMs, visas and bilateral trade," a Pakistani diplomat was quoted as saying by IANS news agency.

The LOC is a line of control or de jure border that divides the two parts of Kashmir.

Qureshi and Mukherjee are also expected to discuss the issue of prisoners, particularly fishermen, who are frequently arrested by both countries for straying into territorial waters that are yet to be defined.

Pakistan announced Sunday that it would be releasing 101 Indian prisoners, 99 of them fishermen and two who had completed jail terms in Pakistan, on Wednesday to time it with the foreign minister-level talks.

On Thursday, Qureshi is scheduled to visit Chandigarh, capital of northern Punjab state, to participate in a seminar along with Mukherjee on cooperative development, peace and security in South Asia.

He also plans to visit Rajasthan state capital Jaipur and a shrine to a Muslim Sufi saint revered in India and Pakistan in nearby Ajmer on Friday before returning to Islamabad. (dpa)