On Kashmir "we are willing to look at options other than the UN resolutions. We realise these are what give Pakistan's position legitimacy in Kashmir but the UN resolutions were made 50 years ago. Has it solved the Kashmir issue?" Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri said in an interview to Gulf News published yesterday.

He gave the interview on Wednesday, a day after India and Pakistan issued a joint statement in Islamabad announcing holding of composite dialogue on bilateral issues, including Jammu and Kashmir, after talks between Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and President Pervez Musharraf.

"There are other UN resolutions, Palestine is a case in point, which have not been honoured. We must explore the option of talks with India," Kasuri said. However, he hastened to add that Pakistan would not abandon Kashmir.

"We have no plans to abandon Kashmir. Indeed, we have made sure it is part of the declaration (joint statement), that it is part of the composite dialogue," he said while urging opposition parties not to make political capital of the Kashmir issue.

Kasuri was reacting to the rising displeasure of hardline jihadi elements, rattled by the Pakistan government's promise not to allow itself to become a haven of terror.