Pakistan said yesterday its military ruler, Gen Pervez Musharraf, would accept India's invitation for talks in the hope of reaching a permanent settlement of the nuclear rivals' dispute over Kashmir.
However, the Foreign Minister, Mr Abdul Sattar, condemned India's decision to end its six-month unilateral ceasefire against Muslim separatist guerrillas in Kashmir.
He told a news conference Pakistan had yet to receive an invitation from the Indian Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, to Gen Musharraf, which New Delhi announced on Wednesday when it called off its ceasefire.
"The chief executive [Gen Musharraf] will respond to the Indian Prime Minister's invitation in a positive spirit. We have not yet received any official communication," he said.
"The summit meeting will provide an opportunity for dialogue aimed at a permanent settlement of the long-standing Kashmir problem.
"A settlement in conformity with the will of the Kashmiri people will bring an end to the travail of the Kashmiri people," he said. "It will also remove the root cause of tensions that have blighted Pakistan-India relations since 1947."
India's decision to initiate talks with Pakistan has raised hopes of eventual peace, but there was little prospect of an early reduction in the level of violence in Muslim-majority Kashmir.
Militants who have been fighting to end Indian rule said the invitation for talks, and the simultaneous end to the ceasefire, would have no impact on their armed struggle.
The Indian army said its soldiers shot dead six separatist guerrillas of a Pakistan-based militant group on Wednesday, just hours after New Delhi's unexpected move.
A Vajpayee-Musharraf meeting would be the first Indo-Pakistan summit since Mr Vajpayee made a historic bus trip to Pakistan in February 1999 for talks with the Pakistani prime minister, Mr Nawaz Sharif.
However, a peace process decided by the two prime ministers has been deadlocked since border fighting in Kashmir later that year brought the two countries to the brink of their fourth war since independence from Britain in 1947.
Mr Sattar said yesterday he was shocked by the Indian decision to end the ceasefire it introduced in November to encourage peace talks with the Muslim guerrillas. The rebels rejected the ceasefire.
"India has removed even the pretence of restraint and given the Indian forces carte blanche to continue state terrorism against the Kashmiri people," he said.
An Indian military official said ending the ceasefire raised the prospect of a fresh offensive against the guerrillas.