NEW YORK: The prime ministers of India and Pakistan agreed Sunday they need to stop the recent spate of attacks in the disputed Kashmir region in order for peace talks to advance, an Indian official said.

They also both accepted invitations to visit each other’s countries, but no dates were set.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistan’s Nawaz Sharif met for just over one hour at a New York hotel on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. It was their first face-to-face meeting since Sharif was elected in May.

Indian National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon called Sunday’s meeting useful and constructive. He said that Singh and Sharif had tasked senior military officers to find a way to shore up a decade-long cease-fire along the disputed frontier in Kashmir, known as the Line of Control.

“They were both agreed that the pre-conditions for forward movement in the relationship which they both desire is an improvement of the situation on the Line of Control where there have been repeated cease-fire violations,” Menon told reporters at a briefing.

“Our overall impression of the meeting was that it was useful because it provided an opportunity for high-level contact on issues that are troubling the relationship,” he said. “We will now see how both sides take it forward in the next few months.”

Singh said from the UN podium on Saturday: "For progress to be made, it is imperative that the territory of Pakistan and the areas under its control are not utilized for aiding or abetting terrorism."

"It is equally important that the terrorist machinery that draws its sustenance from Pakistan be shut down," he said.

Singh resisted domestic pressure for military retaliation after the Mumbai attack five years ago.