According to a news dispatch from Lahore, Pakistan's second largest city, Jamali told reporters there that Pakistan has always been taking initiatives for negotiations and it will continue to do so in future.

Indian Prime Minister Vajpayee told a rally in the Indian-controlled Kashmir last week that New Delhi is ready for talks with Pakistan over Kashmir dispute.

Pakistan and India have fought three wars, two of which were over Kashmir since they both got independence from British colonial ruling in 1947.

India has rejected Pakistan's offers of talking for several times, insisting that the latter must at first stop the "cross-border terrorism" and dismantle the "terrorist infrastructure."

(Xinhua News Agency April 28, 2003)