Thursday, May 19 2005 11:33 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Kuala Lumpur: The time is ripe for a deal between India and Pakistan on Kashmir and the two countries should seize the opportunity to end the long-running issue, Pakistan's Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri said today (May 19, 2005).

"At the moment conditions are particularly propitious," he told reporters during a stopover in Kuala Lumpur on his way home from visits to Australia and New Zealand.

"Both leaders have to show courage and take difficult decisions and the fact there are peace constituencies in both countries should be a help to them," Kasuri said.

Kasuri said a major Confidence-Building Measure (CBM) in the search for a solution to the Kashmir issue would be an agreement on the Siachin glacier in talks beginning on May 25.

"It is doable. I think if we have agreement on this it will act as a major confidence-building measure. It will also help in the process of resolution of Jammu and Kashmir."

"It requires just a bit of political will. The Defence secretaries need to try to convince each other that their fear and apprehension is misplaced."