Kashmir key to improving ties with India: Pakistan

October 10th, 2009 LONDON - Pakistan Ambassador to the US Husain Haqqani has said that improving ties between India and Pakistan is one of the biggest challenges in front of US President Barack Obama. In an interview to a foreign news channel, Haqqani said Obama faces many challenges, including the Af-Pak strategy and resolving issues between India and Pakistan.

September 25th, 2009 NEW YORK - President Asif Ali Zardari has said that Pakistan wants peaceful relations with India, and urged resolution of the Kashmir issue, as it is the key to peace in the region. He said the only way forward with India is the dialogue, saying Pakistan hails the resumption of dialogue with India and Pakistan wants friendly relations with its neighbour.

August 29th, 2009 ABOHAR - The Punjabi Durbar programme of Radio Pakistan seems to have run out of ideas. In its latest programme, it has criticised Dr.

August 16th, 2009 LAHORE - Threat from India still looms large over Pakistan, well known Pakistani journalist and Chairman Nazria Pakistan Trust Majid Nizami has said. Addressing the seventh ideological training workshop of teachers organised by Nazria Pakistan Trust, Nizami criticised President Asif Ali Zardari for saying that India no longer remained a threat for Pakistan.

July 31st, 2009 NEW DELHI - Balawaristan National Front (BNF) chairman, Abdul Hamid Khan has said that India should involve the people of Gilgit Balistan, Chitral and Shhenaki Kohistan regions in the peace dialogue process of Kashmir. Talking to reporters here on Thursday, Khan said, " A dialogue on Kashmir between India and Pakistan should not ignore the strategic importance of Balwaristan".

July 18th, 2009 MUMBAI - The US does not want to get involved in the India-Pakistan row over Jammu and Kashmir, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in remarks telecast Saturday. Asked by Times Now TV if Washington felt it had a role to play in the decades-old dispute, Clinton said any final decision over Kashmir had to be between India and Pakistan.

June 28th, 2009 LAHORE - Pakistan's Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani Sunday said a "cordial relationship" with India was not possible until the longstanding Kashmir issue was resolved, the Online news agency reported. "Pakistan has always wanted to have cordial relations with all neighbouring countries including Afghanistan, India and Iran, but talks between India and Pakistan without the resolution of Kashmir issue would be fruitless," Gilani told reporters at Mansoorah.

June 6th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has said the resolution of the Kashmir issue is the key to peace in the region and for India and Pakistan to have cordial ties. Addressing delegates of the Kashmir American Council, Sharif said Pakistan is committed to resolving the issue.

May 25th, 2009 LAHORE - Former Pakistan Foreign Minister Khursheed Mehmood Kasuri has said he is "50 to 60 percent sure" that the peace process between India and Pakistan will resume in six months. In an interview with Najam Sethi on Dunya News, Kasuri said he had played a vital role in improving ties between Pakistan and India.

May 20th, 2009 JAMMU - India and Pakistan should take steps to augment the cross-border trade between the two countries in Jammu and Kashmir, an industry lobby said Wednesday. Though the trade across the Line of Control (LoC) - the de facto border in the state - is picking up, there was 'an urgent need to redress the long identified problems', Ram Sahai, president of the Jammu Chamber of Commerce and Industries, told the media.

May 15th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - The Kashmir dispute between India and Pakistan has been registered in the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest militarized territorial dispute in the world. The Guinness Book of World Records used the Central Intelligence Agency's (CIA) world fact book to name the Kashmir issue, the longest dispute between two countries, The Daily Times reports.

March 9th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Steering clear of contentious issues, former Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf Sunday underlined the need for Pakistan and India to resolve all disputes so that they can expand their economic ties and claim their place in an Asian century. 'This century is the century of geo-economics.

February 5th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - The resolution of the Kashmir dispute holds the key to India-Pakistan ties and the two countries should resume their composite dialogue process that has been halted by the Mumbai carnage, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has said. He also said that Pakistan's probe into the Mumbai attacks would be made public after the law ministry has given its response.

January 8th, 2009 JAMMU - Omar Abdullah, on his first day in office as Jammu and Kashmir chief minister, Friday said forces opposed to India-Pakistan friendship would 'have to be defeated' and that his government would try to bring unity in the state. 'I would in my capacity continue to advise caution and continue to advise that the enemy is not Pakistan but the forces in Pakistan inimical to friendship between the two countries.

January 4th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi has said that Pakistan remains committed to maintaining friendly ties with all neighbouring countries, including India, and seeks a regional approach to tackle terrorism so as to stop the recurrence of Mumbai-like incidents, a media report said. The News daily quoted Qureshi saying in his hometown Multan: 'The Mumbai attack was a big incident, which caused great damage and we need to get to the bottom of it to carve out a strategy so that such incidents do not recur.' The foreign minister said: 'We all face the problem of terrorism and need to tackle the menace through a joint struggle.' He said Pakistan was pursuing a policy of maintaining friendly ties with all neighbouring countries - Iran, Afghanistan, China and India.