ISLAMABAD: Welcoming Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's renewed commitment to resolve the dispute over Kashmir at the round table conference in Srinagar, Pakistan said it had received "suggestions" from India and would respond to them to move the peace process forward.

In a statement here, Pakistan said it had always emphasised the need to move beyond confidence-building measures to "focussed discussions" for the resolution of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute.

"President Musharraf has made concrete proposals in this regard. We have recently received some suggestions from the Indian side and we would be responding to them so as to move the peace process forward and help progress towards a settlement of the dispute," the Foreign Ministry statement said. It did not mention what the suggestions were or when they were made.

Indian High Commission officials here said New Delhi had not yet gone public on them.

The upbeat text said Pakistan welcomed "the reiteration of the commitment by the Prime Minister of India, in Srinagar on 25 May 2006, to resolve all outstanding issues with Pakistan, including the Jammu and Kashmir dispute".

Positive elements

Pakistan had noted "several positive elements" in Mr. Singh's speech in Srinagar, especially about the need to improve the human rights situation in Kashmir, it said. "We also agree that there should be greater interaction between people across the Line of Control."

On Thursday, the second and concluding day of the conference, the Prime Minister announced the setting up of five working groups, each to deal with a different issue in Jammu and Kashmir. These include one group to discuss the special status of the State in the Indian union, and another to improve relations across the LoC.

Dr. Singh also said he had asked security forces to be "more mindful" of human rights and show sensitivity to the liberties and self-respect of the people and pointed to a "collective responsibility" to ensure that people lived free of oppression and terrorist activities.

The Pakistan Foreign Ministry statement also contained a muted reaction to the impasse in the talks in New Delhi on Siachen.

Noting that Pakistan was also committed to resolving all outstanding issues with India is addition to the "core dispute" of Jammu and Kashmir, it said: "It was in this spirit that we were looking forward to the talks on Siachen and Sir Creek."

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