HIGHLIGHTS: India Ready to Talk But Conditions Have to be Met First, Vajpayee||Russia & China Plan Separate Talks with India & Pakistan respectively||Tough Balancing Act Required of Leaders in India & Pakistan|| STORY: Indian and Pakistani leaders sat down at the same table for the first time in five months on Tuesday, but stuck to the same positions over Kashmir that have brought the two nuclear-armed neighbors to the brink of war. (Read photo caption)

Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee said his country was ready to talk to Pakistan over Kashmir, a flashpoint for tensions between the two rivals, but he insisted cross-border incursions had to stop first.

Earlier, Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf pledged his country would not start a war with India.

India blames bloody attacks on its parliament last December and on an army camp in Kashmir in May on Islamic militants based in Pakistan, and has demanded an end to infiltrations.

Pakistan denies it supports the militants and has vowed to crack down on cross-border incursions.

The world has launched coordinated efforts to prevent a further escalation of the standoff in Kashmir, already the cause of two of the three wars the countries have fought since independence from Britain in 1947.

Russia and China plan separate talks with India and Pakistan later on Tuesday in an bid to defuse a crisis some countries fear could spill over into a nuclear war.

Russia enjoys traditionally warm ties with India, while China has close relations with Pakistan.

TOUGH TASK

The Indian and Pakistan leaders face a tough task balancing a need to satisfy hawkish sentiment at home and avoid a war that would be devastating for both sides.

It was still unclear whether Musharraf and Vajpayee would hold a face-to-face meeting at the summit. The two leaders last exchanged a cold handshake and a few words in Nepal in January.

Indian and Pakistan leaders were steadfast in their positions in their opening speeches to the summit.

Indirectly denying Pakistan was supporting Muslim insurgents operating in India-controlled Kashmir, Musharraf said: "Pakistan will not allow its territory to be used for any terrorist acts outside or inside its boundaries."

But he added: "Similarly we cannot condone for any reason the rapacious policies of certain states that forcibly occupy territories or deny freedom to peoples for decades on end, with total disdain for...decisions of the United Nations."

India saw little change in Pakistan's position.

Altogether 16 nations are taking part in the three-day Almaty Conference on Interaction and Confidence-building Measures in Asia (CICA). The group includes Russia, China, Afghanistan, Israel, Iran, Turkey and the Palestinians. The United States, Australia and Japan have observer status.

PHOTO CAPTION

Bullock carts travel past an Indian army convoy near Akhnoor, some 17 miles from Jammu, June 4, 2002. Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee said on Tuesday his country was ready to talk to Pakistan over Kashmir, a flashpoint for rising tensions between the two rivals, but cross-border incursions had to stop first. (Arko Datta/Reuters)