NEW DELHI, Feb 17: Indian Foreign Minister Kunwar Natwar Singh on Thursday night returned home from what was evidently a successful tour of Pakistan, saying that the visit had laid the foundation of 'positive sentiment and hope'.

Speaking to reporters at the New Delhi airport, Mr Singh said his talks with President Pervez Musharraf, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri were held in "cordiality and shared desire to take relations forward towards the goal of peace, mutual understanding and shared prosperity."

He, however, stressed that the peace process could be sustained only in an atmosphere free from violence. "There are differences between us and I underlined to the Pakistan leaders that the peace process can only be sustained in an atmosphere free from violence and terrorism," Mr Singh said. "But it now seems there is a groundswell of goodwill and positive sentiment among people in both our countries for a relationship free from hostility and bitterness.

"This has enabled our two governments to conclude significant agreements towards building confidence and trust and these include the long-awaited Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service which has been uniformly welcomed by all sections of society both in India and Pakistan but particularly by the people of Jammu and Kashmir," he said.

"Before returning to Delhi, I spent a few hours in Lahore. Our discussions to open a bus service between Amritsar and Lahore have been welcomed not just in our Punjab but also in Pakistan," he said.

"In all these interactions I encountered a new spirit of goodwill and a commitment for peace and it is this foundation of positive sentiment and hope at all levels of people that gives us the conviction that the current peace process is more firmly anchored and more capable of yielding results than similar initiatives in the past."