Vajpayee hopes Pakistan will keep commitments

"India and Pakistan have taken some confidence-building measures recently," Vajpayee told a two meeting of provincial police chiefs in the Indian capital New Delhi, the Press Trust of India (PTI) news agency reported.

"They have led to an understanding between us about the way forward towards relations of peace, in which security and stability can be enhanced.

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"We hope that the commitments undertaken will be implemented sincerely and that we can move forward ... rather than be caught in suspicion and hostility."

In breakthrough talks earlier this month, India and Pakistan announced the resumption of their stalled dialogue.

The agreement to re-enter talks was reached in Islamabad at a meeting between Vajpayee and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf on the sidelines of a regional summit.

The two sides also issued a joint statement in which the Pakistani president assured the Indian prime minister that his country would not be used for any "terrorist" activity directed against India or any other country.

New Delhi has repeatedly accused Pakistan of aiding the infiltration of Islamic militants into Kashmir to foment an Islamic militancy there, a charge Islamabad has consistently denied.

More than 40,000 people have been killed since the outbreak of the Islamic rebellion in the scenic Himalayan region in 1989 according to Indian figures, though separatists put the toll at twice as high.

Kashmir, the spark for two of the three wars between the two South Asian nuclear rivals since their independence from British rule in 1947, is claimed by both in full.