Nuclear rivals India and Pakistan expressed satisfaction with the progress of their slow-moving peace process Tuesday as they held the first talks since a new government took power in Islamabad.

Top foreign ministry bureaucrats met in a bid to kickstart the dialogue, which was launched in January 2004 to end six decades of hostility but stalled last year because of deadly political turmoil in Pakistan.

Thorny subjects including the divided Himalayan region of Kashmir and terrorism came up during the talks between Indian foreign secretary Shivshankar Menon and his Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir, officials said.

"Certainly we have made considerable progress over the last few years," Menon told reporters. He added that the negotiators wanted an "ultimate peace and we are still looking for a way which works for both sides."

A Pakistani foreign ministry statement said the two top officials "expressed satisfaction at the progress made so far and exchanged views on carrying forward the composite dialogue process."

Indian foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee and his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mehmood Qureshi are set to meet on Wednesday for a final review of the four rounds of talks held over the past four years.

Menon would not say if any breakthrough was likely on Kashmir's hotly disputed Siachen Glacier, where Indian and Pakistani troops have been locked in a deadly yet fruitless high-altitude standoff since 1984.

But he mooted the possibility of joint environmental mountain survey expeditions on the glacier, dubbed the world's highest battlefield, in a bid to reduce mistrust between the two nations.

The two sides also discussed how to improve their cooperation in fighting terrorism, having set up a joint anti-terrorism panel to share intelligence last year, he added.

The Indian part of Kashmir has been rocked by an Islamist insurgency since 1989. New Delhi accuses Islamabad of supporting the rebellion, a charge Pakistan denies.

India's Mukherjee on Tuesday met Asif Ali Zardari and former premier Nawaz Sharif, the leaders of the coalition government that ousted allies of President Pervez Musharraf in elections in February, officials said.

The minister is on Wednesday set to meet Musharraf, who seized power in a coup in 1999 and was instrumental in launching the peace process.

Pakistan meanwhile announced that it would release 96 jailed Indian fishermen and three civilians on Saturday "as a gesture of goodwill" to mark the Indian minister's visit, a Pakistan interior ministry statement said.

The South Asian peace process has produced a handful of confidence-building measures since 2004 including air and bus links between the two countries, cultural and sporting exchanges and safeguards against nuclear accidents.

But the core issues remain unresolved -- especially Kashmir, the trigger for two of their three wars since mainly Muslim Pakistan and majority Hindu India gained independence from Britain in 1947.

The ongoing tensions were illustrated on Monday when an Indian soldier died in shooting across the military ceasefire line that divides Kashmir. India and Pakistan hold the territory in part and claim it in full.

The talks this week are the first high-level contact between the two sides since February 2007, when Mukherjee travelled to Pakistan.