'Pak wants to resolve core issues; wants good ties with India'

New Delhi, May 10 (UNI) Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has stressed the need to resolve the ''core issue'' of Kashmir in accordance with the UN resolutions and the aspirations of the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

Outlining Pakistan's new coalition government's plans to improve relations with India and to resolve outstanding issues between the two countries, he said ''Yes there are a few core issues which we want to resolve. At the same time, we want to maintain excellent and extremely good relations with our neighbours.'' ''...Our point of view is very, very clear: that is (the issue should be resolved) according to the resolutions of United Nations and the aspirations of the people of Jammu and Kashmir.'' He added that the Kashmir issue would be discussed when India's External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee visit Islamabad on May 21.

Mr Gilani dismissed as ''half-baked things'', proposals discussed by Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during parleys over the past four years to resolve the Kashmir issue.

''These were half-baked things that didn't have the mandate of Parliament. And now, when the new government has taken over, we have a government that has a prime minister who was unanimously elected.

We have the support of all the political forces in the country,'' he told Karan Thapar on the programme 'Devil's Advocate.

But at the same time Mr Gilani acknowledged that his government could go beyond the UN resolutions. He said: ''We want to go beyond that but at the same time, we have to resolve the core issue as well.'' The ruling coalition, led by the Pakistan People's Party, he said, would ''take the other political forces into confidence because this government is a broad-based government. It's a coalition of several parties and we have to take everybody on board,'' he added.

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