India will not lower guard despite thaw: Advani

"While cross-border terrorism and infiltration of terrorists into India has continued over the years, the level of infiltration and the number of violent incidents in Jammu and Kashmir have perceptibly come down in recent months," he said while inaugurating a two-day meeting of Chief Secretaries and Directors General of Police on Internal Security in New Delhi.

Describing as a "historic" and a "major breakthrough" the India-Pakistan Joint Statement reached in Islamabad on January 6, Advani, however, cautioned the country's top security brass against lowering its guard and said that "vigil must be continued".

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Contending that the government has always been open to resolution of all conflicts through dialogue and peaceful means, he said, "it was in this spirit that the invitation for talks has been extended to the Hurriyat leaders, who, I am confident, would make serious efforts to end the era of violence in the state."

On the Centre-Hurriyat talks scheduled for January 22, the Deputy Prime Minister said he was confident that the "outcome will be good. I have no doubt about it".

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee would address the meeting on Saturday and interact with chiefs of various security agencies.

ANI adds: Notwithstanding the recent thaw in Indo-Pak relations, the hawkish Pakistan Minister for Information and Broadcasting has said that trade and economic ties between the two countries would not improve until the Kashmir issue is resolved.

"Nobody should expect that free trade would be held without seeking a resolution of Kashmir problem," Minister for Information and Broadcasting Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said in Sukkur on Thursday.

Ahmed was also quoted by The Nation as saying that Islamabad was not in a position and would never be in a position to ignore the aspirations of Kashmiri people.

He also dispelled the possibility of accepting the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir as an international border, adding that both countries had other options at their disposal to solve the Kashmir issue provided it was done with the spirit of "good intent and sincerity".

Ahmed also said the Pakistan Government believed that New Delhi would not allow the bilateral confidence-building measures that are already in place to be diluted in terms of their effectiveness.

He said, when the two countries reach near solution, Kashmiris on both sides of the divide would be taken into confidence.