'Improved Indo-Pak ties not possible without settling Kashmir'

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has said the settlement of the Kashmir issue with India would end the "cycle of confrontation and conflict in the subcontinent" and improve ties between the two countries.

"Improved ties between India and Pakistan will not be possible until the two sides resolve their differences over Kashmir," he was quoted by the media as telling new Prime Minister of Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (PoK) Attique Ahmed Khan on Tuesday.

Musharraf, who is likely to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the sidelines of the NAM summit in Havana in the middle of this month, called for the settlement of the Kashmir problem to end the "cycle of confrontation and conflict in the subcontinent" and ensure sustained peace in South Asia, 'Dawn' daily reported.

He said Pakistan wanted peace with India but the issue of Kashmir could not be allowed to be sidelined.

Musharraf stressed that the dialogue between the two countries should be result-oriented, leading to solution of the Kashmir problem acceptable to Islamabad, New Delhi and "above all the people of Kashmir."

Asserting that he was committed to the peace process and it would continue with its endeavours in this direction, he said his proposal of demilitarisation of Kashmir and self-governance for people of the region with a joint management arrangement were a clear manifestation of this.

During the likely meeting between Musharraf and Singh, New Delhi is expected to focus on issues relating to cross-border terrorism, specially in the aftermath of the July Mumbai blasts, according to Indian officials here. Islamabad has also ratcheted up a campaign accusing India of providing money and weapons to Pakistan's Baloch nationalist rebels.

Musharraf, who is in Kabul on Wednesday to hold talks with the Hamid Karzai government, absolved Afghanistan of any involvement in the unrest in Balochistan following rebel leader Nawab Akbar Bugti's killing in an Army raid last month.

Ahead of the possible Singh-Musharraf meeting, Pakistan has detained founder leader of Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) Hafeez Saeed in Lahore. Saeed who along with Jaish-e-Muhammad was blamed by India for various attacks was detained on Aug 10. He was briefly released towards the end of August following a court order but was re-arrested.

Pakistan said its focus during the expected meeting would be on the resumption of the composite dialogue process which was put off in the aftermath of the Mumbai bomb blasts.