Friday, September 16 2005 16:26 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New York: Scotching speculation of any deadlock in his talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has said there is 'commitment' from both sides to move forward towards resolution of Kashmir and other outstanding issues in a peaceful manner through 'consensus'.

Musharraf, who had an unprecedented over four-hour talks with Singh, told a crowded press conference here last night that it was a 'productive meeting'.

Pakistan, he said, was prepared to go 'beyond' its stated position on Kashmir, 'not unilaterally, but bilaterally'.

The four-para joint statement read out by Musharraf with Singh standing by his side after their marathon meeting led to speculation about sharp differences.

Musharraf spoke about the need to withdraw troops from Jammu and Kashmir but Singh made it clear that this was not possible unless violence and terrorism stopped.

"There was no deadlock," Musharraf told a questioner and went on to emphasize that his meeting with the Prime Minister showed their 'commitment to move forward towards resolution of disputes in a peaceful manner'.

Musharraf, who sometime back was pressing hard for fixing a timeframe for resolution of the Kashmir issue, contended this could not be achieved overnight.

"You are talking of such critical issues bedeviling relations between India and Pakistan ... on Kashmir issue over which we have fought three wars. These cannot be resolved in a day or two when each side has opposite views," he said.

Expressing Islamabad's readiness to amend its stated position of solving the Kashmir problem on the basis of UN Security Council resolutions, he said, "Pakistan is flexible on this to the extent that we are prepared to go beyond them, not unilaterally but bilaterally".

Elaborating, he said "If we both (India and Pakistan) were a step away from our stated positions, Pakistan is also prepared to leave its stated position on the UN resolution". He hastened to add that at present, however, Pakistan's position remains as it was.

On charges of human rights violations in Kashmir and cross-border terrorism, Musharraf said both have to be dealt with simultaneously as the two countries move towards conflict resolution.

Observing that any violence against civilians was terrorism, the Pakistan President said, "There is need to remove the signs of violence in Kashmir".

Replying to a question, he said so far the two countries have been focusing on confidence building. "Now, we are moving forward to conflict resolution."