Indo-Pak back channel talks on: Kasuri

The Pak foreign minister says the two nations are discussing something different to resolve the Kashmir issue.

India and Pakistan are discussing through back channel "something different" to resolve the Kashmir issue besides their formal standpoints, Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri has said.

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Back channel talks aimed at hammering out a solution to the Kashmir issue that is acceptable to all parties are taking place, he told the media during an Iftar dinner here on Monday night.

He was asked about the chances of the settlement of the Kashmir issue in the light of India's stand that borders cannot be changed and Pakistan's stand that LoC is not acceptable.

"Besides formal standpoints of the two countries on Kashmir, something different is being discussed by other sources," he said in a reference to "back-channel contacts between former diplomats and other experts from India and Pakistan, but gave no details, Dawn reported on Tuesday.

Kasuri said relations between the two countries have been improving and there has been progress on the Kashmir specific confidence building measures both at diplomatic and other channels.

"There were Indian troops on Pakistan's border in the past but now the situation has changed and both countries are talking to each other on all issues including the core issue of Kashmir," he was quoted as saying by state-run APP news agency.

Travel access initiated by the two countries, travel across the LoC without passport, meeting of Hurriyat leaders with Indian leadership and the visit of APHC leaders to Pakistan are some of the achievements in Pak-India relations which were not at this stage due to stand off Indian forces, he pointed out.