LAHORE, March 7: Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan Shiv Shankar Menon on Sunday said New Delhi would continue to pursue peace talks with Islamabad no matter which party won the elections there.

"All (Indian) political parties have declared that they will support the dialogue process, and they all want peace (with Pakistan)," he told reporters after the inauguration of the Pakistan-India Theatre Festival at Alhamra.

Mr Menon was asked whether the peace process would be hindered if the present ruling coalition led by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee lost the forthcoming elections.

He announced that his high commission would first set up a visa camp in Karachi as establishing a consulate there would take some time. "We have applied for the visa camp," he said.

He said the Indian high commission would increase the number of its staff to 55 after two months. The full 75-member staff strength would be achieved afterwards, he added.

He parried questions regarding India's new war doctrine published by a local newspaper on Sunday, and relating to terrorism and controversy about Pakistani nuclear scientists.

The ambassador denied the impression that Pakistan and India were having a dialogue with each other under pressure from the United States. "We are grown-up sovereign states. We will have to trust each other," he stressed.

He said both countries would discuss opening of the Khokhrapar bus route next week and the Srinagar bus route by the end of the current month, and hoped the two issues would be resolved.

He said the issue of allowing Hurriyat leaders to visit Pakistan would be considered during the next round of talks between the two countries, adding "we have not ruled anything out."

He said the working groups constituted after the foreign secretary-level talks last month to discuss various issues, would meet after another meeting of the foreign secretaries.

Asked whether the two countries would be able to achieve the desired results out of the dialogue by December, Mr Menon said he was a high commissioner and not an astrologer. "We will try moving forward towards peace," he said.