NEW DELHI, Nov 28: Indian Foreign Minister Yahswant Sinha has said that the latest ceasefire with Pakistan along the Line of Control in Kashmir and in the Siachen Glacier could be a durable affair, and had a strong potential to take the two countries towards stable peace.

“The longer this ceasefire lasts the better it is for all of us,” Mr Sinha told state-run Doordarshan in an interview on Thursday. “But this time I do believe that it could be a stable ceasefire. I say this because I have seen in recent days that Pakistan’s way of thinking has changed. If this change in their approach continues, then we could move towards a stable friendship with Pakistan.”

Mr Sinha said the new Pakistani “mindset” was the right anti-dote to the “sourness that has so far characterised our relationship.”

Asked about a similar ceasefire proposal that President Gen Pervez Musharraf had made in August which New Delhi had promptly rejected, Mr Sinha said: “We did not accept the offer from Gen Musharraf because he had wanted us to hold a similar truce (with anti-India guerrillas) inside Jammu and Kashmir.

Mr Sinha said Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali’s ceasefire announcement this week did not contain that specific condition. “This is a sign of a marked change in Pakistan’s thinking.”

He said India had made it clear to Pakistan that if infiltration does continue from across the LoC, then New Delhi would be free to act against the intruders.

He said infiltration from across the LoC was still on, and even during the winter months, when the passes in Kashmir become virtually inaccessible, some movement was still happening over the last few seasons.

Mr Sinha cautioned that the latest peace moves should not be construed as a change in India’s position towards a bilateral summit with Pakistan during the Islamabad Saarc summit in January next year, which he said would be impractical.

“We believe that for a summit dialogue, there should be detailed preparations done first at a lower level,” Mr Sinha said. “It should be bottoms up, not top down.”

He said the two countries already had their agenda ready for official level talks, which should not be confused with the step-by-step approach towards normalization of ties initiated by India after the December 2001 episodes.

The official talks when they begin would cover all issues concerning bilateral ties, including the issue of Kashmir, he said.

“Yes, we can. Yes it is possible,” Mr Sinha said, when asked if the new steps could lead to a new beginning in India-Pakistan ties.

He said it was Pakistan that did not seem keen to discuss the issue of Kashmir with India, until 1990, “that was when they enabled terrorism to flourish in Jammu and Kashmir and began harping on the core issue.”