Sharif invites India for dialogue on Kashmir

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif Wednesday invited India to engage with Pakistan in "a result-oriented dialogue process" over the Kashmir dispute.

This was necessary for lasting peace in South Asia, the Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) quoted him as saying.

In his message on Kashmir Solidarity Day, Sharif said Pakistan was committed to resolving all outstanding disputes with India including the one over Jammu and Kashmir through dialogue.

"We invite India to engage in a comprehensive, sustained and result-oriented dialogue process," he said.

"This is an occasion to reiterate our firm support to the people of Jammu and Kashmir in their legitimate struggle for their inalienable right to self-determination," he added.

Raising the issue of human rights violations in Kashmir, Sharif said: "The peaceful people of Jammu and Kashmir continue to suffer.

"Not only the right to self-determination is being denied to them but they are also being subjected to the worst kind of human rights abuses, violence and suppression."

President Mamnoon Hussain said Pakistan remained "firmly committed" to its principled stance on Jammu and Kashmir.