May 6, 2003	Tuesday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 3, 1424

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ISLAMABAD, May 5: Pakistan has received a positive response from New Delhi to Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Jamali’s letter to his Indian counterpart.

This was stated by Foreign Office spokesman Aziz Ahmad Khan at his weekly briefing here on Monday. The spokesman said he could not (at present) go into details of the Indian response.

Although reports from New Delhi do not indicate a very early visit by the Indian prime minister to Islamabad for “a summit meeting” with Mr Jamali, the spokesman expressed Pakistan’s keenness to give an early start to a dialogue.

Mr Khan reiterated that Pakistan had always wished India to overcome the hiatus it caused in relations with Islamabad, and said “we welcome (the fact) that India has come round” and even announced undoing some of the measures which it had taken in December 2001.

The spokesman expressed his keen expectation that a bilateral dialogue would start very soon and said Pakistan wanted “to enter into the dialogue and negotiations process with a positive mind and discuss all outstanding issues, including the core issue of Jammu and Kashmir.” He hoped that the reopening of the bilateral talks would be meaningful and sustained.

Answering questions, the spokesman said it was hoped that as soon as the Indian prime minister’s suggestion to restore full diplomatic relations with Pakistan was implemented along with some other measures as proposed, the two sides would return to their pre- December 2001 situation and hopefully resume dialogue from the point where it was halted.

In reply to a question, Mr Khan said Pakistan had always maintained that it would follow denuclearization of the Sub-continent if India also took a similar decision since it was New Delhi which, by taking the lead to go nuclear, had forced Pakistan to also adopt the nuclear course.

In response to the Indian prime minister’s proposals suggesting going back to the pre-December 2001 position in relations with Pakistan, the spokesman said Pakistan’s response to the Indian measures was under consideration in Islamabad on a reciprocal basis and would be made public soon.

Asked whether with the resumption of talks, Islamabad would re-adjust its strategy to the dialogue in the light of India’s reported suggestions, the spokesman said Pakistan would accommodate Indian suggestions, evaluating carefully ground realities, but Islamabad would not be unmindful of its own perception of the ground realities.

He indicated that the proposed talks might start at the official level and later be promoted to the political (leadership) level.

About the scheduled visit to Islamabad of US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage from May 7, the spokesman said his open- ended discussions at the highest levels here would certainly include the fresh and hopeful turn in relations between India and Pakistan which had for some time received sustained encouragement from the US leadership.

The two sides would also exchange views on Washington-Islamabad bilateral relations and the recent developments internationally and in the region.

Mr Armitage would also visit Kabul and New Delhi during his coming tour of the region.