NEW DELHI, March 1: PPP co-chairman Asif Zardari has indicated that the new government would follow a strong Kashmir policy but it would not be averse to pursuing the model for talks adopted by India and China to sort out their boundary dispute.

In an interview to CNN-IBN, he emphasised that relations between India and Pakistan should not be held “hostage” to the Kashmir issue and that the two countries “can wait” so that future generations resolve the dispute in a mature manner in an atmosphere of “trust”.

“The idea is that we feel for Kashmir, the PPP has always felt for Kashmir. We have a strong Kashmir policy. We have always had one,” Mr Zardari said.

“But having said that, we don’t want to be hostage to that situation. That is a situation we can agree to disagree (on).

Countries do, we have positions, and you have positions. We can agree to disagree on everything,” he said on the channel’s Devil’s Advocate.

Asked if the PPP would be willing to put aside the Kashmir issue just as India and China had set aside their border dispute to focus on other aspects of their ties, Mr Zardari said: “Exactly.”