MUZAFFARABAD, July 22: Pakistan supports the ongoing peace process between Islamabad and New Delhi and sincerely intends to hold dialogue for resolution of disputes with the hope it will be successful, Information and Broadcasting Minister Shaikh Rasheed Ahmed said on Tuesday.

“We support the peace process and want (to hold) talks with India with open minds for resolution of all pending issues, including (the) Kashmir (dispute),” the minister was speaking at a news conference here at the State Guest House. He was accompanied by AJK Senior Minister Syed Mumtaz Ali Gillani.

Reiterating the government’s resolve to stick to its principled stand on Kashmir, the minister said that Pakistan sought a solution to the dispute that was in accordance with the will of the Kahmiri people.

Pakistan, he said, would never compromise on either the Kashmir issue or its indigenous nuclear programme, adding that no flexibility was possible on these two issues.

Referring to the killings of Hindus in Indian-occupied Jammu, the minister said Pakistan supported and advocated peace, adding that it wanted to live peacefully with its neighbours.

“(Though) India keeps on levelling allegations ... We want to advance the peace process and maintain good neighbourly relations with it,” he said.

Reiterating upon his earlier statement he said that he saw the Kashmir issue being settled in the next three years.

Stressing the need to find a solution acceptable to Kashmiris, Sheikh Rashid said that both countries would have to show flexibility in this regard, adding that the two countries should take benfit of the great interest evinced by global powers in the peace moves.

He said Pakistan had not received any official confirmation of Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s visit to Islamabad in January next year, adding that he had come to know about the prospective visit only from press reports after the Indian PM’s meeting with JUI chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, currently in India in his private capacity.

The minister said that Pakistan would welcome foreign mediation on Kashmir.