Islamabad: On the eve of the crucial meeting between Indo-Pak Foreign Ministers, Islamabad today (Sep 4, 2004) said that Kashmir was not an intractable problem and a political will was needed to settle the issue.

It was "regrettable" that India and Pakistan have not been able to resolve the Jammu and Kashmir dispute that has, in the past, kept them in a "state of tension and flux," Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid M Kasuri said in a statement before leaving for New Delhi.

External Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh and Kasuri would be holding two days of parleys from tomorrow (Sep 5, 2004) on all outstanding issues, including Jammu and Kashmir as part of the ongoing composite dialogue process.

"I am going to Delhi with full confidence. I will engage my counterpart on all issues. This is not the time for tall promises, but for investment of our time and energy in solving problems, which I do not find intractable.

"Yes, I can say confidently that Kashmir is not an intractable problem. It only requires political will for its solution," Kasuri said.

In the four-page statement, which was mainly confined to the Kashmir issue, Kasuri reiterated Pakistan's position that Kashmiris should be included in the dialogue process.

"I want to assure Kashmiris that they would not be marginalised. We want to persuade India to associate with them with our dialogue," he said without specifying who should represent the Kashmiris.

"Their association would add substance and meaning to the dialogue," he said adding that resolution of the Kashmir problem alone would guarantee peace and security in South Asia.

"As we meet in Delhi, the whole world will be watching us, hoping that we would take credible steps towards conflict resolution, genuine rapprochement and co-operation. Pakistan is fully conscious of its obligations to history, to the people of Kashmir, to South Asia, and to the international community," he said.

He said the "compass of results should guide the dialogue. It is time that we refuse to go through the motion. It is time to fix things. We should not accept inordinate delays."