UNITED NATIONS, Jan 21: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz on Friday said India and Pakistan should now move forward from confidence-building measures towards substantive dispute resolution.

Addressing a press conference at the United Nations, he said India, Pakistan and the Kashmiri people “must show courage, leadership, magnanimity, flexibility and a passion for peace” to find a credible and lasting solution to the question of Kashmir.

The prime minister was speaking after a meeting in which he and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan discussed a wide range of topics, including relief assistance for victims of the 8 October earthquake, India-Pakistan relations, Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran.

Prime Minister Aziz stressed that the Kashmir issue should be addressed for sustainable peace in South Asia. Pakistan had proposed various initiatives, including the demilitarization of Kashmir, self-governance and the creation of an environment in which Kashmiri people on both sides of the Line of Control could trade and interact without any restriction.

“India-Pakistan relations must move from simple confidence-building measures to substantive dispute resolution,” he said.

He expressed the hope that the dialogue that Pakistan had started with India would move forward and that both sides, as well as the Kashmiri people, would work to find a solution. Once there was progress on that issue, the two sides would make progress in tandem on other issues like trade and investment, among others.

Referring to Iran , Mr Aziz said Pakistan was against proliferation in any form and opposed Iran’s producing any nuclear weapons, but added at the same time, “every country has the right to use nuclear energy to meet its legitimate requirement for producing electricity.”

“Iran had the right to do so as long as it was done under the safeguards of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) so that the whole world felt comfortable that the programme Iran was pursuing was for that purpose”.

He said that the European Union troika, as well as the role of other countries like Russia and China, could be used effectively to discuss the issue to find a peaceful solution.

Pakistan, Mr Aziz said, opposed the use of force to settle the nuclear question and believed in dialogue between various stakeholders.

He said the upcoming IAEA meeting in Vienna would provide a good forum to address the issue and create an environment in which a credible and lasting solution could be found.

Commenting on the Bajaur bombing, he said the incident had resulted in deaths of 13 people and the government and the people of Pakistan had condemned the incident.

Mr Aziz said it was not yet determined if “high value targets” were present and Pakistani security forces had found no tangible evidence of the presence of any particular group or individual.

Commenting about the reported cancellation of the UN appearance of gang rape victim Mukhtar Mai, he said he had no idead why his government would protest.

He said the government felt that women “must have the right to speak, be heard and live freely”.

He said Pakistani women were flying jet fighters in the air force, and the cabinet had an unprecedented five women members. However, he said, “progress must be made step by step”.

Commenting on joint pipeline project with Iran, he said that with an economic growth rate that was second only to that of China last year, energy security was something upon which Pakistan focused very seriously.

To meet its future energy needs, Pakistan was looking to import gas from a variety of sources.