LAHORE, June 6: Indian Minister for External Affairs Kunwar Natwar Singh during a telephone conversation with his counterpart Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri on Sunday denied some statements attributed to him by a section of the Press.

Foreign Minister Kasuri told a news conference at the State Guest House that Mr Singh said he held President Musharraf and him (Kasuri) in high esteem. The Indian minister, Mr Kasuri said, also told him that he had a vested interest in improving ties with Pakistan and thus any comment being planted on both sides should be disregarded.

Mr Kasuri appreciated the gesture, saying that both countries should work for a lasting peace in South Asia. He expressed the hope that the new Indian government would observe rhetoric restraint regime like the BJP government did to avoid misunderstandings between the two countries. The restrain, he said, had worked in the past and would also do well in the future.

Mr Singh told Mr Kasuri that India would continue the policy of not conducting the diplomacy through media. In reply to a question, Mr Kasuri said that during the telephonic conversation, Mr Singh said:" Pakistan-India relations don't lie in the past but in future."

Mr Kasuri said India and Pakistan, having realised that war was not an option for the resolution of issues outstanding between them, had now to adopt realistic and pragmatic approach to resolve all disputes including that of Kashmir through talks in the framework of the composite dialogue process. He said neither side was in a position to impose a military solution of the Kashmir dispute.

He said dates for secretary level talks had already been finalized. He would be meeting India's external affairs minister this month in China where foreign ministers of different Asian countries have been invited.

Mr Kasuri said the international community, the US, European Union, China and Japan wanted the two countries to resolve their outstanding disputes through dialogue. Answering a question, the foreign minister said his recent visit to the United States had been very fruitful.

He said Pakistan enjoyed bipartisan Congressional support, and thus the victory of President Bush or his rival Kerry would not affect US-Pakistan ties. He said National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice had told him that the US was for a long-term strategic relationship with Pakistan beyond Iraq and Afghanistan.

He said it was because of this thinking that when the Congress approved a major non-Nato ally status for Pakistan, it did not surprise him. The minister said the US government was of the view that the new Indian government would continue the policy of composite dialogue process with Pakistan.