India has started "visa on arrival" facility for senior citizens from Pakistan, two-and-half months after the plan was shelved in the wake of the brutal killing of Indian soldiers allegedly by Pakistani troops in the disputed region of Kashmir in January.

"The visa-on-arrival facility for Pakistani citizens above 65 years has now started at the Attari land border in the northern Indian state of Punjab as part of the new liberalized visa pact between the two countries," a senior Indian official said.

Kashmir has been a bone of contention between the two arch- rivals for over 60 years and the two countries have fought three wars over the disputed territory, apart from a number of skirmishes in the Siachen Glacier, the world's highest battlefield.

India blamed Pakistan for the brutal killing of two of its soldiers along the Line of Control, the de facto border in Kashmir, in January and suspended all talks and put on hold the visa-on- arrival facility due to start in the middle of that month. Pakistan denied killing the two Indian soldiers.