NEW DELHI, April 28: India said on Monday it was awaiting a response from Pakistan to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s offer of a “hand of friendship” made in occupied Kashmir.

Responding to a query on a statement by Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri that a response would come in “two, three days,” an external affairs ministry spokesman here said New Delhi would “wait for that.”

Officials in New Delhi have said over the past week that talks could begin as early as June.

“The prime minister has extended a hand of friendship and it depends on how Pakistan responds,” the spokesman said.

He also rejected a recent proposal by the Pakistan foreign ministry for “international patrolling” of the Line of Control (LoC).

“Such self-serving and impractical proposals intended to bring in third-party (mediation) have been rejected in the past,” the spokesman said.

“After the prime minister’s offer of dialogue, there is an expectation that there will be a new approach and new language.”—AFP