Islam Times - Kashmir conflict is a bilateral issue: Indian FM

Islam Times - Indian Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid has rebuffed Pakistan’s demand for a UN investigation into the recent border clashes in Kashmir, saying the conflict in Kashmir is a bilateral issue.

“We do reiterate our position that these are bilateral issues and they should be settled bilaterally. We have a history of being able to work bilaterally and we would want to retain that and contain this matter within the bilateral purview,” the Indian foreign minister said at a press conference in New Delhi on Tuesday, Reuters reported.

Earlier in the day, Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar stated that Islamabad would welcome a UN investigation into the matter.

On January 16, the Pakistani foreign minister said Islamabad is ready to enter into dialogue with India to ease tensions.

"We will be open to a discussion, a dialogue, at the level of the foreign ministers to be able to resolve the issue of” the Line of Control “incidents and to recommit ourselves to the respect for the ceasefire," she said in New York.

Three Pakistani soldiers and two Indian soldiers have been killed in border clashes in Kashmir since the beginning of 2013.

Kashmir lies at the heart of more than 60 years of hostility between India and Pakistan. Both countries claim the region in full but each only has control over a section of the territory.

Over the past two decades, the conflict in Kashmir has left over 47,000 people dead by the official count, although other sources say the death toll could be as high as 90,000.