Washington: Assuring that it would do nothing to "queer the pitch" for the peace process, Pakistan has said chances of an agreement with India on the Kashmir issue are better than ever before.

"Both India and Pakistan have come to the realisation that the war will not solve any disputes between the two countries," Pakistan's Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri, who is in Washington to prepare for the next month visit of President Pervez Musharraf, said.

Referring to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's Srinagar speech offering a hand of friendship, Kasuri said, "At least Pakistan would do nothing to queer the pitch."

He said during his meetings with Foreign Ministers of Iran, Afghanistan, China, Russia, Germany, France, Japan, Canada and the US during the last "four or five days" at the UN, all "felt that the peace process should continue".

"The international community is very (much) involved. That is why, when you ask me about my gut feeling... I will say I am optimistic," he told reporters at the Pakistan Embassy.

He also reiterated the offer to India to become "a partner in contraction" of the oil and gas pipeline through Pakistan, saying that such a pipeline could lead to the creation of a powerful lobby in both countries.

PTI