Gilani invites India for negotiations on Kashmir

Islamabad, Sep 20: Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Saturday, Sep 19 invited India for negotiations to resolve the Kashmir dispute 'so that there could be lasting peace in the region'.

"We want to resolve the Kashmir dispute peacefully and invite India for negotiations, a gesture that it has continued to ignore," Gilani said in his address at an iftar party he hosted for Kashmiri leaders at the Prime Minister's House.

Recalling his meeting with his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh at Sharm-el-Sheikh in Jul 2009, Gilani said that he had stated that there could not be peace in the region unless the Kashmir issue is resolved.

"Without the resolution of the Kashmir dispute, peace in the region will remain a 'far-fetched dream' and this has been acknowledged by the international community," he claimed.

The Kashmir dispute is the cornerstone of Pakistan's foreign policy and the country's stand on the issue is based on its founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah's saying that "Kashmir is the jugular vein of Pakistan", he said.

OneIndia News