Islamabad: Urging India to demonstrate "statesmanship and not marksmanship", Pakistan today (Dec 23, 2003) said Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee should show "flexibility" in the light of recent peace overtures and hold talks with the leadership here during next week's SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) summit.

India should show "flexibility" and Vajpayee should hold talks with Pakistani leadership as Islamabad has "set the tone with peace overtures like unilateral ceasefire", Foreign Office spokesman Masood Khan told reporters in Islamabad.

"There is a need for statesmanship and not marksmanship," he said while urging Indian leaders to "ceasefire rhetoric".

Observing that the ceasefire and other confidence building measures were "unilateral overtures and not unilateral concessions," Khan urged Vajpayee and other Indian leaders not to continue with allegations of cross-border terrorism in the light of efforts to normalise relations between the two countries.

"Flexibility has to be a two-way street and there is no unilateral flexibility. We have to start a composite dialogue to reach conclusions" and resolve differences, he said, adding the SAARC summit provides a historic opportunity for both Pakistan and Indian leaderships to meet and resolve their disputes.

Replying to a question on Vajpayee's remarks that India would settle for talks with Pakistan if Islamabad put an end to cross-border infiltration, Khan said such allegations were "regrettable".

By announcing several peace measures, Pakistan has sent a message of flexibility to India, he said.

"We sent a message of flexibility and hope India would respond positively," Khan said while reiterating that Pakistan too demanded that India should put an end to, what it alleged "repression" in Jammu and Kashmir.