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Pakistan can't accept LoC as border: Minister

DUBAI - The Pakistani Minister for Information, Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, said yesterday that the Line of Control (LoC) can never be accepted as a permanent border between Pakistan and India.

Addressing a Press conference during transit in Dubai, the minister said that the region wants the Kashmir issue resolved through peaceful means.

The minister, who was on his way to Washington to attend a conference, said that the present step of dialogue between India and Pakistan - expected to take place next month - is a welcome move and it does not matter as to who takes the first step.

On April 28, Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee spoke over the phone with Pakistani Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali. The talks were the first high-level contacts between the two nations since the collapse of the Agra summit in July 2001.

The Indian prime minister extended a 'hand of friendship' to Pakistan, posing a reciprocating question to Pakistan. Both countries have recently restored full diplomatic and civil aviation links with each other.

Mr Ahmed spoke on the importance of holding a fruitful dialogue. "All roads lead to Srinagar. Be it economic cooperation, cultural exchanges, people-to-people contacts or restoration of air links, without Kashmir all talks would be meaningless," he said. The minister, reiterating Pakistan's support to the Kashmir cause, said that Pakistan is supporting Kashmiris both morally and politically; therefore all talks between India and Pakistan should be unconditional. He said that the international community needs to focus on both Kashmir and Palestine issues so as to bring about peace in the region. Mr Ahmed also said that the situation was different this time as major countries of the world were taking interest in resolving the long-standing Kashmir dispute.

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