LoC incidents won't affect peace process: Khurshid

Jaipur: Welcoming the "positive statements" coming from Pakistan for talks to de-escalate tensions along the border, External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid Friday said the recent incidents won't affect the peace process between the two countries.

"There is a positive content in the statement that has come from Pakistan foreign minister and high commissioner to India. It is welcome and it should be getting an appropriate response from our side," Khurshid told reporters here.

He said the matter will come up for discussion at the three-day Congress Chintan Shivir here.

"Peace process is not going to be undermined by these incidents. We hope that we will find a resolution to all these matters and we have treated the whole issue with great care and the closest attention possible," Khurshid said.

"Peace process is something in which we have invested a lot...and it was done because it is strategically and tactically important for India's role in the world," he said.

On the talks offer by Pakistan, Khurshid said: "We are trying to work on it and the prime minister has been trying to ensure things remain in control and our concerns are addressed and situation doesn't deteriorate. All these things have to be kept in mind."

Khurshid had Thursday declined to commit himself to accepting Pakistan Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar's offer for bilateral talks, saying that India cannot move forward for talks just on the basis of "one statement".

Ties between the two neighbours have been strained ever since the Jan 6 killing of a Pakistani soldier allegedly in firing by Indian troops.

Two days later, Pakistani soldiers brutally killed two Indian soldiers, including beheading one of them, near the LoC.