Gilani welcomes Singh`s offer of talks, says war no solution

Rezaul H Laskar
Islamabad, Oct 31 (PTI) Prime Minister Yousuf Raza
Gilani Saturday said Pakistan saw India's offer of talks
"positively," saying solutions to problems between the two
countries cannot be found through wars.
Welcoming his counterpart Manmohan Singh's offer of
talks with Pakistan, Gilani said, "Wars are not the solution,
dialogue is the only solution".
Singh's remarks were an outcome of the meeting between
the two premiers at Sharm el-Sheikh in July, when they had
agreed that dialogue was the only way to resolve outstanding
issues, he said.
"He (Singh) had agreed that there is no other way but
dialogue... We see this positively," Gilani told newsmen in
the northwestern city of Peshawar, responding to a question on
Singh's recent comments.
However, Gilani made it clear that any discussions
between the two countries would be positive only if they
included "core issues" like Kashmir.
"Till the core issues are resolved, the dream of
achieving peace in the region will not be fulfilled," he said.
While extending the offer of talks to Pakistan, Singh
had said the dialogue would be productive only if Pakistan
took steps to control terrorism emanating from its territory.
Gilani visited Peshawar to take stock of the security
situation in the wake of a devastating car bomb attack in a
commercial hub that killed nearly 120 people earlier this
week. (MORE) PTI