India on Monday clarified that it will respect all documents signed with Pakistan and will strengthen the peace initiative of the last government.

Addressing a press conference in New Delhi, Foreign Secretary Shashank said the two countries must avoid the kind of statements that have appeared in the press in the past week or so.

Pakistan had reacted angrily to Foreign Minister Natwar Singh's repeated assertions that Simla Agreement of 1972 was the basis for Indo-Pak relations.

"If the invocation of the Simla Agreement was meant to maintain the status quo, then that is not suggesting a solution but a way of perpetuating the problem," Pakistan's Foreign Office spokesman Masood Khan had said on Sunday.

A few days earlier, General Musharraf too had criticised Singh's statement, saying the Simla Agreement would not allow either side to move forward and find a lasting solution to the Kashmir issue.

Foreign Secretary Shashank said whatever misunderstandings the two countries may have could be sorted out at the next meeting. Till then the two sides must avoid "uncalled for controversy in or through the media."

Pakistan establishment has also criticised Singh's suggestion that the two sides should try out the Sino-India model of engaging each other on common issues before taking up disputes. The Pakistan foreign office said the Jammu and Kashmir dispute is "not a border issue, it is not about empty spaces," and that "all Indo-Pakistan differences center on Kashmir."

Foreign Secretary Shashank called on Pakistan to avoid any unwarranted public exchanges. "We have clearly laid out a framework for the Composite Dialogue in the coming months. That process would provide us the opportunity to discuss all these issues and any unnecessary apprehensions in detail. Till then it would perhaps be better to avoid any uncalled for controversy in or through the media," Shashank said.

Shashank said India's "approach is one of friendship and cooperation. We hope that the seriousness and sincerity with which we are committed to engagement in the bilateral dialogue process with Pakistan will be respected by the government of Pakistan, and an atmosphere free from the menace of terrorism and violence created to take forward and sustain the process."

Shashank said the Indian government was "somewhat surprised at the reactions in Pakistan" to Singh's "recent articulations of consistent policies of the government of India, the policies that have been followed over decades and
despite several changes in the government."

Shashank pointed out that the new foreign minister has "clearly said that we will abide by the framework of the Simla Agreement, all subsequent agreements and declarations and the January 6 Joint Press Statement" issued during Atal
Bihari Vajpayee's visit to Islamabad.

India has consistently maintained that "difficult issues between India and Pakistan can be addressed productively only when there is an atmosphere of cooperation, goodwill and understanding. These can be generated through enhanced interaction and exchanges. Obviously, we intend to pursue with this approach," Shashank said.