India rules out territorial concession to Pakistan

The foreign ministry statement followed a Time magazine article quoting an unnamed Indian official as saying India was willing to "adjust" the so-called Line of Control in Kashmir, a military ceasefire boundary, "by a matter of miles" to "help defuse the situation in Kashmir."

"This is completely and wholly inaccurate. Any suggestion the prime minister will make such an offer is factually wrong," foreign ministry spokesman Navtej Sarna said in the statement e-mailed late Monday to New Delhi from London which Singh visited en route to the United States.

The US newsmagazine in its latest edition reported Singh would propose the boundary shift to Musharraf when the two hold their first talks in New York Friday on the sidelines of a UN General Assembly session.

Sarna said Singh was looking forward to "discussing all matters of bilateral interest" to Musharraf but "there is no question of any territorial concession being offered by India to Pakistan."

Singh is slated to meet Musharraf as part of an ongoing dialogue between India and Pakistan aimed at ending nearly six decades of hostility over Kashmir, spark of two of three wars between the nuclear-armed neighbours.

The two countries began talks in January on a wide range of issues but have made scant headway over Kashmir where a deadly 15-year revolt against New Delhi's rule has raged since 1989.

India accuses Pakistan of stoking the revolt in the Himalayan territory, a charge Pakistan denies, saying it only gives moral support to what it calls a freedom struggle.

Meanwhile, Pakistan Monday said it hoped President Pervez Musharraf's maiden talks with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the United States would spur the peace process between the nuclear-armed rivals.

The two leaders are expected to review the status of the ongoing dialogue and discuss the thorny dispute of Kashmir, foreign office spokesman Masood Khan said.