ISLAMABAD, Jan 11: Foreign Minister Mian Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri is confident that he would be able to put across Pakistan’s principled stand on Kashmir, economic and defence cooperation and Pakistani expatriates’ INS-related suffering, during his meetings with US secretary of state and other officials of the administration.

He was talking to newsmen at the PML-Q general council meeting on Saturday.

The foreign minister is leaving on a three-day visit starting Jan 29 to Washington (tentatively from January 26/27) to meet Secretary of State Colin Powell and other officials of the administration.

Responding to a question he said, though the INS-related issues had not surfaced when he was extended the invitation, still he would try to convince his counterpart on easing the said law on Pakistani immigrants.

Kasuri said that he would try to tell the American leadership that the growing conventional weapons disparity between India and Pakistan was enhancing the dangers of nuclear race in the region and threatening its peace.

Foreign minister said, he would divert the attention of the US administration towards the adamant attitude of Indian leaders towards opening up dialogue with the newly-elected government on all issues, including Kashmir.

He said: “The recent statement of a US spokesman on American desire that Pakistan and India should resume bilateral talks on Kashmir was a welcome move and we would try to encourage this in our talks ahead of us. We would also impress upon the American administration that Pakistan was a peace-loving nation and it wanted to resolve all issues including the core issue of Kashmir through bilateral dialogue.

“This was all the more necessary in light of the fact that the social indicators of South Asian countries have recently shown the lowest in the world, he said.

HE SAID: “We have multidimensional and multifaceted relations with the US and we will try to convince the administration on revival of the level of relations as was earlier.