NEW DELHI - India agreed on Friday to release four detained Pakistani nationals on the eve of talks in Islamabad between the interior ministers of the South Asian neighbours, a government statement said.

Home Minister P. Chidambaram "as a gesture of goodwill" approved the release of the four Pakistani nationals imprisoned in the western Indian state of Gujarat.

"These prisoners will be repatriated from the Attari border on June 30 and handed over to Pakistan Rangers (border troops)," the home ministry said.

Chidambaram is scheduled to fly to Pakistan later Friday to attend the conference of interior ministers from the eight-nation South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) on Saturday.

Chidambaram is to meet his Pakistani counterpart Rehman Malik on the sidelines of the event and is likely to again press for action against the alleged masterminds of the 2008 Mumbai attacks.

The Islamist gunmen who raided Mumbai came from Pakistan, according to India and US intelligence, and India insists that Islamabad has not done enough to punish the masterminds of the attack.

The meeting between the interior ministers is the latest in a series of high-level talks between the sides aimed at getting a stuttering peace dialogue back on track.

New Delhi suspended a four-year peace process with Islamabad after the Mumbai attacks.

Pakistan also freed 17 Indian prisoners earlier this week as a "goodwill gesture" ahead of a meeting between top foreign ministry officials from the two countries on Thursday.

Hundreds of Indians and Pakistanis are languishing in prisons on both sides of the border on charges of spying or illegal entry.

The two South Asian rivals have fought three wars since the subcontinent`s 1947 partition.

BDST:1318 HRS, June 25 2010
DC