New Delhi: Observing that India wants to live in peace with all its neighbours, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee today (Feb 25, 2004) said that it was keen to "walk and live together" with Pakistan.

"Our policy is to have peace with all our neighbours and at the same time keep the country's interests in mind. There is no conflict between the two," Vajpayee told a conference of minorities organised by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Maintaining that he had only one message of peace when he visited Pakistan recently, Vajpayee said friends could be changed but not neighbours.

His message to Pakistan was that "let us walk and live together. If we have to fight, we have to fight against poverty and unemployment but not with each other. We have fought wars and seen the results too", the Prime Minister said.

Sporting a green headgear, Vajpayee said while following the Government's policy of having peace with neighbours, India's interests would be kept in mind but saw no contradictions between them.

Recalling his bus journey to Lahore, Vajpayee said that it was a good opportunity to improve ties between the two countries but it was lost. "I do not want to go into the details as to why the then Prime Minister (Nawaz Sharief) had to go or why the opportunity was lost."

But he did not lose heart and made another attempt to better relations with Islamabad, he said.