India encouraged by Kashmir offer

The two nuclear powers have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir

India has given a positive response to Pakistan's surprise offer to drop a demand for a referendum in Kashmir.

India's foreign minister said his government would always be ready to accept any change in Pakistan's view.

It was India's first response to Thursday's announcement by Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf.

Islamabad's position for the last half-century has been that a referendum should decide if the disputed territory becomes part of Pakistan or India.

Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee held a meeting of his cabinet on Friday to discuss Mr Musharraf's offer - which has been welcomed internationally.

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"If there is any change in or modification in Pakistan's position, that is something which India will always be ready to welcome," Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha told reporters after the meeting.

"We have always suggested flexibility. It is Pakistan which has been very rigid."

India has said in the past that UN resolutions demanding a referendum in the divided territory are no longer valid.

Both the United States and the United Nations said they were encouraged by Pakistan's offer.

But Islamic religious parties in Pakistan, which are in power in two provinces and have a sizeable presence in parliament, said the offer was a "surrender before India".

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"Nobody has a right to change Pakistan's Kashmir policy," Liaquat Baluch, a spokesman for a coalition of Islamic parties, was quoted as saying by the Associated Press.

Pakistan Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed on Friday said Pakistan still supported a referendum on Kashmir but would discuss alternative proposals at any talks with India.

Mr Musharraf made his surprise offer in an interview with Reuters news agency:

"We are for UN resolutions. However, now we have left that aside," he said.

"If we want to resolve this issue, both sides need to talk to each other with flexibility, coming beyond stated positions, meeting halfway somewhere."

Kashmiris divided

The reaction in Indian-administered Kashmir has been mixed.

Many have welcomed the move and say India should respond positively.

"General Musharraf's initiative would be meaningless unless India also takes a realistic stance," hardline separatist leader, Syed Ali Shah Geelani, said.

But a militant group, the Jamiat-ul-Mujahideen said the Pakistani leader's move would "sink both Kashmir and Pakistan".

Mr Musharraf's offer comes amid a series of peace moves by both sides, including a ceasefire by the two armies along the Kashmir border.

On Friday, India and Pakistan agreed to restart train services on 15 January, after a two year gap.

Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee is due to travel to Islamabad next month to attend a regional summit, his first visit to Pakistan since 1999.

The two nuclear powers have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir.