Pakistan promised yesterday a "positive and robust" response to a raft of Indian proposals to improve relations between the two rival neighbors, although it accused India of misrepresenting itself as the region's peacemaker.

　　Foreign Ministry spokesman Masood Khan said the government was consulting "all principles" before drafting its official response, a term understood to refer to the powerful military and intelligence services.

　　The reply will be given "in due course and very soon," he said.The delay in formulating the Pakistani reply could indicate an effort to frame one that would move the burgeoning process forward without abandoning or jeopardizing Islamabad's traditional stand on Kashmir.

　　The Himalayan territory is divided between the two South Asian rivals and has been a flashpoint for two wars.

　　"Pakistan is considering India's proposals very seriously. We are not prepared with a response yet," Khan told a weekly news briefing. He stressed, however, that a real peace process cannot begin without a discussion on Kashmir.

　　Last week, India unveiled a 12-point proposal to re-establish rail and air links, ease visa arrangements and open a bus route between the two sides of Kashmir.

　　The package was the latest initiative in a gradual series of measures to reverse the slide in relations between the two nuclear-armed countries that only a year ago were threatening another war.

　　Khan said Pakistan also is considering the two sets of dates in November mentioned by India earlier yesterday for beginning discussions on resuming air links, the first step in the proposed normalization process.

　　Khan questioned India's motives in presenting the package as an initiative by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, claiming that many of the proposals were raised last May by Pakistan's prime minister, Zafarullah Khan Jamali.