AP 
 
New Delhi, Jan 14: Pakistan and India agreed to hold another round of peace talks in March, which will include an attempt to resolve their main dispute over Kashmir, foreign ministers from both countries said.

The announcement to hold the fourth round of talks on March 13-14 in Pakistan was made during the visit of Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee to Islamabad.

The two sides also agreed to expedite the resolution of an old dispute over the icy wasteland of the Siachen Glacier - often called the world's highest battlefield _ where the two countries have deployed thousands of troops since the 1980s, Mukherjee said at a joint press conference with Pakistani Foreign Minister Khursheed Kasuri.

Kasuri said the Siachen issue - the border dispute which has been the cause of frequent skirmishes before a ceasefire was signed three years ago - could be resolved quickly.

''Given the political will, it can be resolved in days,'' he said, adding Pakistan had already given a detailed plan to New Delhi about resolving this issue.

Siachen is at the northern tip of Kashmir, a Himalayan region claimed by both Pakistan and India. Pakistan has proposed that both sides withdraw troops from Siachen, but India insists that Pakistan first officially recognize current Indian troop positions on the glacier.

The two foreign ministers said they also discussed the crisis over Kashmir.

''We have never in the past 60 years had such a sustained discussions'' over Kashmir ''as we have this time, and it is no secret that it is being discussed at different levels,'' Kasuri said.

Mukherjee said it was not possible for him to set a time frame for resolving the differences over Kashmir, the region over which the South Asian rivals have fought two of their three wars.

''Unfortunately, (so far) we have not been able to resolve the issue,'' Mukherjee said.

Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan. More than a dozen militant groups have been fighting in the Indian side since 1989, seeking independence for Muslim majority Kashmir or its merger with neighboring Pakistan.

Mukherjee said Indian and Pakistani experts for the first time will meet in March to discuss how to combat terrorism.

Hard-line Kashmiri leaders on the Indian side on Saturday criticized the talks between New Delhi and Islamabad, saying they were fruitless and the ideas being touted, including those made by Musharaff, did not address the Kashmiri demand for self rule.

''The people of Kashmir have not made sacrifices for self rule, autonomy or soft borders, but for the right to self determination,'' said Syed Ali Shah Geelani, a leader of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, the region's main separatist alliance.

The arrival of Mukherjee also triggered protests among students in the Pakistan-controlled part of Kashmir.

The visit's main purpose is to invite Pakistan to New Delhi for this April's summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, or SAARC. Pakistan and India are main members of the association, formed in 1985 to promote regional trade and economic cooperation.

SAARC's members are Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

Musharraf, who has represented his Islamic nation at previous SAARC summits, said he will skip it this time and send Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz instead.

Pakistani officials have said that since Musharraf had already visited neighboring India, it is now Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's turn to make a trip to Pakistan. Singh has said he will do so this year.

Relations between the two rivals have improved in the past two years, following their leaders' launch of a peace process in 2004. But no significant progress has been made over Kashmir.