Pakistan on Monday welcomed Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's remarks about his country's commitment to bilateral peace talks that could end differences over Kashmir, according to dpa. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Tasneem Aslam told reporters in Islamabad that Singh's statement came as an acknowledgment of the serious discussions continuing on the disputed Himalayan territory. Amid much optimism about the resolution of the decades-old dispute without any change in borders, Singh on Sunday said: "There can be no questions of divisions or partitions, but the Line of Control can become a line of peace with a freer flow of ideas, goods, services and people." The Line of Control (LoC) is a de facto boundary that demarcates the territories controlled by India and Pakistan in Kashmir. Aslam said the peace dialogue between Pakistan and India should focus on making progress on issues that had caused tension and conflicts between the two nuclear-armed South Asian neighbours. "Any out of the box solution to the Kashmir dispute that reflects the aspirations of Kashmiris will make the LoC irrelevant," she noted. According to Aslam, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf had emphasized that any workable settlement should be acceptable to Pakistan and India but, more importantly, to the people of the disputed region. "Pakistan has made many proposals for greater interaction between Kashmiris on both sides," she said. Pakistan and India have fought three wars, two of which were over Kashmir, since they gained independence from Britain in 1947. The archrivals entered peace talks, commonly referred to as composite dialogue, in early 2004 thus beginning negotiations on a host of issues, including that of their claim on the Himalayan territory in totality.
