Oct. 29 (Bloomberg) -- India is ready to revive talks with Pakistan on easing tension in disputed Kashmir, though progress depends on Pakistan’s willingness to shut down groups that have attacked India, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said.

Singh today renewed his call for peacemaking with Pakistan, and with Kashmiri groups seeking self-determination, in his first visit to the Indian-administered part of the region since winning re-election five months ago. India and Pakistan broke off a five-year-old detente process in November after Pakistan- based militants killed 166 people in an attack on Mumbai.

“We are looking at negotiations, which are essentials for which we are prepared,” Singh told reporters in Srinagar, the main Kashmiri city. “But there will not be much headway unless and until Pakistan brings under effective control these terrorist groups,” he said.

Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry called Singh’s statements in Kashmir “a welcome reiteration” of a call for dialogue made by the countries’ leaders in Egypt in July.

Singh led a delegation of government ministers and the head of his Congress Party, Sonia Gandhi, to underline what he said is their commitment to bringing economic development that might help calm the 20-year-old insurgency against Indian rule over much of Kashmir.

He did not immediately appear to achieve the breakthrough with Kashmiris that he is seeking, said Gul Mohammed Wani, a political science professor at the University of Kashmir.

Not Enough

Singh repeated promises of new roads, railroads and jobs programs.

Still, his offer of broad dialogue and economic development “is not enough to meet the high expectations of Kashmiris for this visit,” Wani said by telephone from Srinagar. Hopes were raised when Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram this month promised a “unique” political solution on Kashmir, he said.

Singh’s government “must follow up its commitment to dialogue with details” about the political status for Kashmir that it would accept, Wani said. India and Pakistan fought immediately over Kashmir when the two countries were formed from British-ruled India in 1947, and the Indian-ruled portion, Jammu and Kashmir, is India’s only Muslim-majority state.

Singh was met with a general strike in Srinagar and the Kashmir Valley called by advocates of Kashmiri self- determination. An alliance of Kashmiri groups, the All-Parties Hurriyat Conference, has called for India to pull its troops back from cities, halt their use of martial law and make other concessions.

Opposition Protests

Singh faced protests in parliament by the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party in July after a peace appeal he made at a meeting in Egypt with Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani. The two leaders agreed not to link tackling terrorism with wider peace efforts between their countries.

India has demanded that Pakistan prosecute members of the Lashkar-e-Taiba militant group who it says carried out the Mumbai attack. Pakistan has arrested some group members who it says will face a secret trial.

“I hope that the government of Pakistan will take the ongoing actions against terrorist groups to their logical conclusions,” Singh said yesterday.

Five years of peace talks from 2003 led to increased cultural and sporting links between the two nuclear-armed rivals and the establishment of new rail and road services.

To contact the reporters on this story: Bibhudatta Pradhan in New Delhi at bpradhan@bloomberg.net; James Rupert in New Delhi at jrupert3@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: October 29, 2009 06:02 EDT