Pakistan offers to move cannons from Kashmir border

Pakistan has proposed moving heavy artillery away from the Line of Control, the de facto border with India in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, the foreign ministry said on Tuesday.

"Pakistan has proposed to India to move 120-millimetre guns some 30 kilometres (18 miles) away from the Line of Control," foreign ministry spokesman Abdul Basit told AFP.

The proposal was made during talks between Indian and Pakistani experts in Islamabad on building confidence between the nuclear-armed rivals as both governments resume tentative peace efforts stalled by the 2008 Mumbai attacks.

"The move would help reduce casualties on both sides," Basit added.

Relations between India and Pakistan, which have fought three wars since the subcontinent was partitioned in 1947, have been plagued by border and resource disputes, and accusations of Pakistani militant activity against India.

Two of the three wars between India and Pakistan have been fought over Kashmir, which both countries claim in full. A 20-year separatist insurgency in Indian Kashmir has left tens of thousands dead.

Discussions on Tuesday were designed to build confidence on nuclear issues.

India and Pakistan were on the brink of nuclear conflict in 2002 over Kashmir tensions.

Their slow-moving peace process resumed in March, nearly three years after 166 people were killed in the 2008 Mumbai attacks blamed on Pakistani extremists.