Pakistan wants constructive dialogue with India: Qureshi

Rezaul H Laskar

Islamabad, Jan 19 (PTI) Pakistan wants to have a"productive and constructive" dialogue with India to resolveall outstanding issues, including the Kashmir problem, ForeignMinister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said today.

Qureshi''s remarks came ahead of a meeting of theForeign Secretaries of the two countries on the sidelines of aSAARC meeting in Bhutan next month.

Qureshi made the remarks while responding to aquestion regarding the resumption of the Pakistan-Indiadialogue during a joint news conference with his visitingBulgarian counterpart Nickolay Mladenov.

There is growing realisation in India that themovement in Jammu and Kashmir is "indigenous" and it should beresolved through political means, Qureshi claimed.

Both countries have exchanged proposals aimed atresuming their stalled peace process.

Qureshi is expected to visit India in March for talkswith his Indian counterpart.

India suspended the composite dialogue in the wake ofthe November 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, which were blamed onthe Pakistan-based Lashker-e-Taiba.

During the news conference, Qureshi and Mladenovresponded to a question on the situation in Afghanistan bysaying that Pakistan and Bulgaria are supportive of the Afghanreconciliation process to usher in normalcy.

This process should be led by the Afghans, they said.

Qureshi also said Pakistan and Afghanistan aredeveloping their relations at all levels and there has been a"qualitative change at the military and political levelsduring the past few years".