Islamabad: Pakistan on May 5 said it has received a "positive" response to its invitation to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and asserted that it is ready for a "composite" dialogue with India, including on Kashmir.

"We have received a response and it is a positive response," Foreign Office spokesman Aziz Ahmed Khan said declining to give details of Vajpayee's reply to the invitation extended by Pakistan Premier Mir Zaffarullah Khan Jamali on May 3 to visit Pakistan.

The spokesman said Vajpayee's response "calls for a dialogue process. We will look at the letter and then we will move from there."

He said Pakistan's position is that it is "ready for a composite talks, including (on) Kashmir."

Within hours of receiving Jamali's invitation, Vajpayee wrote back to him saying careful preparations on the ground were necessary for "meaningful" engagement at the highest level, indicating that he would not rush into summit-level talks with Pakistan.

In a cautious and calibrated reply to Jamali, Vajpayee, in his letter emphasised India's commitment to improvement of bilateral relations for which there was an immediate need for an end to cross border terrorism and dismantling of its infrastructure.

Jamali, while extending the formal invitation to Vajpayee, promised to announce confidence-building measures to promote peace and security in the region soon.

PTI