ISLAMABAD, May 24: The home and interior secretaries of India and Pakistan began their two-day talks here on Thursday, with the discussions expected to focus on a relaxed visa regime and the prosecution of the perpetrators of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks blamed on the Lashkar-e-Taiba.

The Indian delegation led by Home Secretary R.K. Singh and the Pakistani team headed by Interior Secretary Khwaja Siddique Akbar gathered at a hotel in the heart of Islamabad for the talks.

The last round of talks between the two secretaries was held in New Delhi in March last year.

Ahead of the dialogue, Indian officials said the two sides had given finishing touches to a new relaxed visa regime that would for the first time include tourist visas, visas on arrival for senior citizens and children and year-long multiple-entry visas for businessmen.

The secretaries are expected to sign the pact on Friday, official sources said.

However, some reports in the Pakistani media claimed that the visa agreement is unlikely to be signed as the Pakistani cabinet at its meeting on Wednesday had not approved it. The reports said Interior Minister Rehman Malik had not presented the agreement before the cabinet for approval.

An unidentified interior ministry official was quoted as saying by The Nation newspaper that the authorities had decided to delay the signing of the agreement till the next meeting of the home and interior secretaries.

The two countries have been working on the draft of the new visa agreement for over a year.

— By arrangement with the Times of India