Indian prime minister-elect Mr Manmohan Singh vowed on Thursday he would make carrying foraward a peace process with Pakistan his priority and hold talks with all Kashmiri groups.
Indian prime minister-elect Mr Manmohan Singh
"We seek the most friendly relations with our neighbours, more so with Pakistan than with any other country," Mr Singh said, days before the rivals are due to hold talks on nuclear confidence-building measures as part of a peace roadmap agreed by the outgoing government of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee.
"We must find ways and means to resolve all outstanding problems that have been a source of friction and the unfortunate history of our relations with Pakistan," said Mr Singh, who was born in what is now Pakistan's Punjab province. "We should look to the future with hope. It is not impossible."
But New Delhi would not sacrifice its "national security imperatives" Mr Singh said, in what is seen as an indication that there would be no easing in the assault on Muslim militancy in Kashmir.
Nuclear-armed India and Pakistan were on the brink of a fourth war in 2002 - over their decades-old dispute over Kashmir - but ties have warmed after Mr Vajpayee last year launched a fresh bid to make peace.