The Board of Control for Cricket in India is confident of resuming bilateral cricket ties with Pakistan soon, its president, Jagmohan Dalmiya, said on Saturday.

"We are constantly in touch with our government to find out their latest views on the subject and we are getting positive signals," Dalmiya said after a six-hour meeting of the Asian Cricket Foundation.

The Indian government stopped cricket against Pakistan three years ago, except in tournaments like the World Cup, accusing the country of supporting militant groups in Jammu and Kashmir.

India beat Pakistan at the World Cup in South Africa on March 1.

Earlier this week Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee announced the resumption of diplomatic ties with Pakistan and the positive mood was reflected at the ACF meeting which was also attended by Tauqir Zia, chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board.

"I am pretty confident that we will be granted permission to resume cricket ties with Pakistan in a few days," Dalmiya, who also heads the ACF, said. "I cannot say when the series between the countries will be played as both India and Pakistan have a very tight schedule this year.

"But if we get permission from the government we will try and squeeze some days," he said.

"Also, our main players like Sachin Tendulkar, Ashish Nehra and Rahul Dravid are nursing injuries and we have allowed four players -- Javagal Srinath, Harbhajan Singh, Virender Sehwag and Mohammed Kaif -- to play county cricket in England," he said.

Dalmiya said since most of the Asian teams have busy schedules, the Asia Cup next year would be held in March or April. Four Test teams -- India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bagladesh -- along with two qualifiers, UAE and Hong Kong, will feature in the tournament.

Pakistan had threatened to pull out of the Asia Cup because of India's playing ban.

"All these things can be sorted out once we get permission to play against Pakistan," Dalmiya said.