NEW DELHI, Aug 31: Indian National Security Adviser M.K. Narayanan has said past initiatives could be pushed forward to improve Pakistan-India relations.

Mr Narayanan said in a television interview that Kashmir “isn’t the easiest thing” to address, adding that PPP leader Asif Ali Zardari, who is likely to be Pakistan’s next president, “is going to take it on as the first test of his leadership”.

He praised Army Chief Gen Kayani as “a widely respected professional soldier”.

Mr Narayanan said ties between the two countries had seen a “fair degree” of progress during the Musharraf tenure and several “half cooked” and “three-quarter cooked” ideas to improve relations were in the pipeline which could be taken forward with ‘great statesmanship’ and ‘courage’.

Referring to the former president, Mr Narayanan further said: “What we had with President Musharraf was a period of four years in which we made a fair degree of progress. I think the violations of the Line of Control were minimal. We made progress on the back channel and the various comprehensive dialogues on many matters.”—APP