By Simon Denyer NEW DELHI, Feb 21 (Reuters) - India and Pakistan vowed on Wednesday to stay committed to their peace process despite attempts to undermine it, as police probed possible cross-border links to the bombing of a train connecting the neighbours. Indian investigators are looking into a suspicious phone call made to Pakistani Kashmir just after two bombs exploded on a train bound for Pakistan on Sunday night, killing 68 people, an official said. But Kashmiri militant groups denied any role in the attack. Whoever was behind the bombings, the foreign ministers of both countries, meeting for scheduled peace talks in New Delhi, said they would not be sidetracked. "The holding of the ... meeting as scheduled is a reaffirmation of the commitment of both India and Pakistan to the dialogue process," Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee told a joint news conference. The two men signed an accord to reduce the risks of accidents relating to their nuclear arsenals, but as important was the absence of the mutual finger-pointing and acrimony that has followed similar attacks in the past. India also promised to share leads from its investigations into the bombings with its rival when a joint panel set up to fight terrorism holds its first meeting next month. "I am sure that when the ... terror mechanism meets in Islamabad this will be a very high item on their agenda," Pakistan's foreign minister, Khursheed Mehmood Kasuri, said. Even though most of the victims of the bombing were Pakistani, Indian police say Islamic extremists are prime suspects, perhaps worried that Pakistan would one day renounce its claim to the disputed Muslim-majority region of Kashmir. Intelligence agencies seem to think that a phone call from Delhi to Pakistani Kashmir could provide an important lead. The Times of India newspaper quoted a Home Ministry official on Wednesday as saying the call had been recorded and could hold "the key to the entire puzzle". "Yes, a call was made and it is a vital link," an official from India's Intelligence Bureau, told Reuters. On Tuesday, police released sketches of two suspects who are believed to have jumped from the train just before two suitcase bombs packed with fuel sparked a deadly fire. ISLAMIST EXTREMISTS SUSPECTED On Wednesday, the focus of the investigation moved to the teeming streets of Old Delhi. Police believe the suitcases could have been bought there before being loaded onto the train, and said they were questioning shopkeepers. "We are also examining the video recordings of the closed-circuit television at the Old Delhi railway station, though the visuals are not of a good quality," a senior police officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "The pattern points to Islamic terrorists. No other group has the capability of a well-planned operation like this," he added. In Kashmir, the disputed Himalayan territory at the core of decades of hostility between India and Pakistan, militants condemned the attack and vehemently denied any role. "Our fight is against the Indian government and not against innocent civilians," the United Jihad Council (UJC), a Pakistan-based alliance of Kashmiri militant groups, said. "Our target is Indian security forces and our aim is liberation." Suspicion in India after such attacks usually falls on the Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba, which is not part of the mainly Kashmiri UJC and is seen as promoting a more hardline Islamist agenda. But a man identifying himself as Abdullah Gaznavi, a spokesman for Lashkar, called Reuters in Kashmir to say that such accusations were "malicious propaganda aimed at maligning the image of Mujahideen (holy warriors)". "This brutal act is the handiwork of Indian agencies, Hindu hardliners including Shiv Sena," he said, referring to a Hindu-nationalist political party. A similar cycle of accusation and denial came after bomb attacks on trains in Mumbai last July that killed 186 people. At the time, Indian police blamed Pakistan-based militants but have failed to come up with clinching evidence to present to Islamabad. India also briefly suspended peace talks at the time, but analysts said the neighbours were becoming aware that such freezes were counter-productive. "Both governments are now realising that unless they go ahead and keep the talks going, the terrorists will get an upper hand," said Talat Masood, an analyst and retired Pakistani army general. "That's why they will try to keep the talks on track." (Reporting by Y.P Rajesh, Palash Kumar in New Delhi, Sheikh Mushtaq in Srinagar)
