NEW DELHI, April 14: Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on Wednesday said he was happy that cricket balls had replaced cannon shells as the dominant symbol of bilateral ties with Pakistan and hoped that peace between the two would now be permanent.

"We want peace to be permanent," Mr Vajpayee told a rally in Jammu. "We are neighbours and we have to live together. For development, peace is essential." Press Trust of India quoted him as saying that India had always maintained its disputes with Pakistan should be resolved through talks.

"We are happy that Pakistan has now accepted this and both nations are moving on the path of improving ties," Mr Vajpayee said. "It is a new chapter now. Now dialogue is taking place and we hope this continue and succeed. Both neighbours will cooperate and move forward. The world expects this from us and this is also our policy," he said.

The change in India-Pakistan relations has ensured that "cannon shells" have been replaced by "cricket balls", he said. Apparently Mr Vajpayee acknowledged that Jammu and Kashmir had become a "subject of dispute", but the context of the remarks was not clear from any immediately available report.