ISLAMABAD, Feb 18: Foreign Office spokesman Masood Khan said on Friday that Pakistan would continue pursuing India for a durable solution of the Kashmir dispute in accordance with the aspirations of Kashmiri people.

Speaking in a PTV programme, he said Kashmir was the real issue between the two countries and Pakistan's stance in this regard was very clear. The spokesman said that Pakistan would also continue urging India to stop human rights violations in the occupied Kashmir and pay heed to the voice of Kashmiri people.

Mr Khan said that sufficient progress had been made in the area of confidence-buildings measures but Kashmiris had still been kept away from this process. He said there existed two tracks in the Pakistan-India relations: confidence-building measures and dialogue.

Progress on the confidence-building track was fast, but on the dialogue track it was very slow, he added. Mr Khan said that both President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz urged the Indian foreign minister that a simultaneous flow of process on both the tracks should be ensured to remove the element of uncertainty.

Both leaders also stressed the need for expediting efforts for the resolution of the Kashmir issue by showing sincerity, boldness and mutual flexibility, he added. The spokesman said the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service was a long-standing demand of Kashmiri people who had warmly welcomed the agreement in this regard.

He said Prime Minister Aziz wanted to keep the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline project from other issues as India had indicated that it would discuss it separately. Mr Khan said the matter of setting up Pakistan's consulate in Mumbai also came under discussion with Natwar Singh and India had promised to provide land for the purpose. -APP