Monday, May 9 2005 22:15 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Islamabad: Pakistan today (May 9, 2005) asked the moderate and the hardline factions of the Hurriyat conference to unite saying that a solution to the Kashmir issue was "nearer than ever before".

"It is very important that unity comes as soon as possible. Entire Hurriyat leadership is moving in that direction. Hope that Hurriyat will be united body as it was before," Pakistan Foreign Office spokesman Jalil Abbas Jilani told reporters in Islamabad responding to a query about a meeting of Hurriyat factions in Srinagar to discuss the possibility of reunification.

"We believe that freedom struggle in held Kashmir has reached decisive state where a resolutions of Jammu and Kashmir is nearer than ever before," Jilani said.

Referring to differences over the peace process between moderate faction led by Mirwaz Umer Farooq and hardline faction by Syed Ali Shah Geelani, he said their disagreements were 'peripheral'.