The World - News from Feb. 1, 1987

Indian and Pakistani officials began talks in New Delhi on how to defuse military tensions that threaten to trigger another border war between the two neighbors. An Indian Foreign Ministry spokesman said the 10-member delegations met for 4 1/2 hours “in a cordial atmosphere” and will meet again today. The latest crisis in Indo-Pakistan relations erupted Jan. 23 when New Delhi officials said the air force and army had been placed on alert and troops moved to the border of Punjab state to confront frontier concentrations of Pakistani infantry and tanks. Pakistan denied that it had massed its forces. A joint statement is expected to be issued Monday.