Tuesday, June 13 2006 10:58 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Islamabad: Pakistan yesterday (June 12, 2006) said that it is 'comfortable' with the consultative process being followed by India and Pakistan to interact with the Kashmiri leaders to find a solution to the Kashmir issue even though they are not directly involved in the Indo-Pak dialogue.

It also claimed that its proposal of self-governance, de-militarisation and joint management for a tenable solution to the long-standing Kashmir problem have found favour among the Kashmiris.

Reacting to recent assertions by former External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha that there was no seat for Kashmiris in the current round of dialogue process between India and Pakistan, Foreign office spokesperson Tasnim Aslam said the Kashmiris were being consulted 'through other means'.

"Our position is that Kashmiris are part of the process and they should be able to sit at the table. Since this is not acceptable to India, we are comfortable with the Kashmiris being associated with the peace process through other means," she said.

For instance, Kashmiri leaders on both sides of LOC are interacting with each other. They are interacting with the governments of Pakistan and India and since there are three parties to the disputes, they all have to be on board to resolve it, she said.

'Pakistan has proposed self governance, demilitarisation and joint management," she said adding that these ideas found 'resonance' among Kashmiris and the two sides can proceed further on the basis of these ideas.