Islamabad: Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has ruled out his Government accepting Line of Control (LoC) as a permanent solution to Kashmir issue even as Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmood Kasuri said Islamabad would have to budge from its 56-year-old "stated position" on Kashmir to evolve a workable solution.

While India too has to show flexibility to find a solution agreeable to the Kashmiris as well as both countries, Pakistan would have to budge from its stated position, local daily 'The News' quoted Kasuri as saying in Lahore yesterday (April 17, 2004).

He, however, said both the countries had made progress towards the target and expressed the hope that the Kashmir solution would pave the way for lasting peace in the region.

But Musharraf said there was no question of Pakistan accepting the LoC as the solution to resolve the Kashmir issue and ruled out any "sell-out" on Kashmir.

"I am not a seller. I don't sell. I do not bargain cheaply. I bargain tough. There is no question of any sell-out on Kashmir. I said this to India and over their TV as well as to the Americans and EU officials that if you think that I am in for a sell-out on Kashmir and if you think that the LoC is going to be permanent, sorry you are talking to the wrong man," he told a meeting of ruling Pakistan Muslim League-QA (PML-QA) legislators in Lahore yesterday.

Musharraf said US Secretary of State Colin Powell, who spoke to him over the phone a few days ago, said he has spoken to Indian leaders about the need for a settlement of Kashmir issue.