Kashmir dispute must end for 'durable' peace

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice (R) holds talks with Pakistani Foreign Minister Kurshid Mahmood Kasuri at the State Department Friday in Washington, DC. PHOTO: AFP

And Kashmiris must be included in the peace process for the matter to be resolved, Pakistani Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri told reporters after meeting his US counterpart Condoleezza Rice for more than an hour at the State Department.

Kasuri said Rice asked how the dialogue between Pakistan and India was going.

"I told her that we needed to resolve this issue (Kashmir) so that there could be durable peace between Pakistan and India," he said.

"Pakistan and India need to guard against other issues raising their ugly heads because 57 years of Kashmir is enough," Kasuri said.

"In order that it is resolved we need to include the Kashmiris in the peace process," he said. "There can be no resolution to the dispute if the Kashmiris are not involved."

"It's like trying to solve the Palestinian problem without the Palestinians."

The Himalayan region is divided between Pakistan and India and is claimed by both in full. It has caused two of the three wars between the nuclear-armed neighbours since their independence from Britain in 1947.

Meanwhile, Pakistani foreign minister said here Friday his country had not been contacted by the US government regarding claims by a man with suspected al-Qaeda ties that he was trained at an al-Qaeda camp in Pakistan. "Our government has not been contacted," Kasuri told reporters after meeting with Rice for more than an hour.

"And if we are contacted, it goes without saying that we will provide cooperation," he added.

Pakistan on Thursday denied that there were any al-Qaeda training camps on its soil.

A father and his son from Lodi, California, were charged this week with lying to federal authorities.

The son, Hamid Hayat, 22, admitted he had trained at an al-Qaeda camp in Pakistan for six months in 2003 and 2004 where he others were trained on "how to kill Americans," an FBI agent stated in an affidavit.

Hamid's father, Umer, 47, who drives an ice cream truck, acknowledged paying for his son's flight and giving him a 100-dollar a month stipend knowing he was going to a "jihadi training camp," according to the affidavit.

Hamid was arrested upon returning to the United States from Pakistan late last month.