Islamabad, February 5
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf expressed optimism on Monday about the decades-old dispute with India over the Kashmir region saying the two countries were focusing on reconciliation not confrontation.

Nuclear-armed India and Pakistan have fought three wars since 1947, two of them over the divided Himalayan region of Kashmir, and nearly went to war again in 2002. They began a peace process in 2004 but there has been no substantial progress on Kashmir.

“We are seeing some light at the end of the tunnel where we may be able to resolve the dispute for good, and for the benefit of the people of Kashmir and to give them final peace,” Musharraf told reporters.

Monday is Kashmir Solidarity Day in Pakistan, a holiday introduced in the 1990s as a show of sympathy for the Muslim insurgents who have been battling security forces in Indian Kashmir with Pakistani support since 1989.

Marches and rallies were held across the country.

Indian says more than 40,000 people have been killed in the insurgency. Pakistan says the toll is 80,000, including many civilians killed by Indian security forces.

Musharraf called for unity among Kashmiri leaders who are split between moderates who support negotiations with India and hardliners who oppose them.

“I urge you all to bring unity among your ranks,” he was quoted as saying by the state-run APP news agency. “There is a change of focus from a confrontationist stance to reconciliatory resolution of the dispute ... and I am happy about it.”

India claims the whole of Kashmir. Pakistan has long sought implementation of U.N. resolutions calling for the mostly Muslim people of Kashmir to decide if they want to join India or Muslim Pakistan.

Musharraf has been urging India to break the deadlock and resolve the dispute at the core of their hostility. He has proposed demilitarisation of the region, self governance and joint management by Pakistanis, Indians and Kashmiris.

But a prominent Pakistan-based Kashmiri guerrilla leader said talks with India were futile and Pakistan had to support the militant campaign.

Pakistan says it only offers Kashmiri “freedom fighters” political and diplomatic support, India says Pakistan has for years orchestrated the infiltration of insurgents into Indian Kashmir.