New Delhi, September 20:

Leading politicians from the Indian and Pakistani sides of divided Kashmir held their first-ever talks today amid peace efforts by the South Asian rivals to settle differences that have kept them from normalising relations. Participants in the one-day conference in New Delhi included Farooq Abdullah, a former chief minister of India’s portion of Kashmir, and Sardar Muhammed Abdul Qayyum Khan, a former head of government on the Pakistani side.

“It is for heart-to-heart talks among the Kashmiris,” Qayyum said before the conference. “I have been trying for two decades for an intra-Kashmiri dialogue which did not happen.”

Another report said J&K CM Mufti Mohammad Sayeed has begun the process of forming an official team to visit Pakistan, in anticipation of an invitation from Islamabad, sources said, though Sayeed has denied receiving any invite.