‘Pakistan ready to ease tensions with India over Kashmir’

Pakistan says the country is ready to enter into dialogue with India to ease tensions over Kashmir after recent deadly clashes in the disputed border region.

“We will be open to a discussion, a dialogue, at the level of the foreign ministers to be able to resolve the issue of” the Line of Control (LoC) “incidents and to re-commit ourselves to the respect for the cease-fire,” Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar said in New York on Wednesday.

She made the remarks after the recent clashes in Kashmir claimed the lives of three Pakistani soldiers and two Indian troopers since January 6.

Khar went on to say that border clashes “obviously created questions, but we still believe that dialogue must be the means to resolve this or any issue.”

The call for talks comes as India’s military said that it has reached an “understanding” with Pakistan to ease tensions.

“An understanding has been arrived at between the two director-generals of military operations to de-escalate the situation along the Line of Control,” Indian Army spokesman Jagdeep Dahiya said on Wednesday.

Kashmir lies at the heart of more than 60 years of hostility between India and Pakistan. Both countries claim the region in full but each only has control over a section of the territory.

Over the past two decades, the conflict in Kashmir has left over 47,000 people dead by the official count, although other sources say the death toll could be as high as 90,000.