Pakistan wants peaceful resolution of Kashmir issue: Gilani

Islamabad, Jun 16 (UNI) Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani today said Pakistan believes in the peaceful resolution of Kashmir issue through dialogue and expressed the confidence that India would ''also reciprocate positively in this regard.'' "Pakistan wants an expeditious, just and peaceful resolution of the dispute in keeping with the aspirations of the Kashmiri people," he said while talking to Yasin Malik, Chairman, Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), who called on him here.

The Prime Minister said sustainable peace in South Asia cannot be achieved without the settlement of the Kashmir issue which has bedevilled relations between Pakistan and India over the last six decades.

He added that Pakistan would continue to extend full and unwavering moral, diplomatic and political support ''to the cause of Kashmir.'' Mr Gilani said the Kashmir issue has been the cornerstone of PPP's foreign policy and recalled that late premier Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto's foreign policy in 1970s revolved around the resolution of the problem.

"Pakistan has always supported the inclusion of all stakeholders in the dialogue process and Pakistan believes that true and genuine representatives of the Kashmiri people in the dialogue will ensure a just and durable settlement which would be acceptable to the people of Pakistan," he stressed.

He also recalled his meeting with US President George Bush in Sharm-el-Sheikh last month in which, he said, the Kashmir issue was discussed and President Bush had said time was ripe to resolve it.

Mr Malik said the Kashmiri people also supported the peace process.

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