ISLAMABAD: The Foreign Office accused India on Thursday of indulging in state terrorism in held Kashmir and called for resolution of the longstanding dispute through dialogue.

`Dialogue is the best option to amicably resolve all issues between India and Pakistan, including the dispute of Kashmir. Pakistan remains ready for dialogue,` Foreign Office spokesman Nafees Zakaria said at the weekly media briefing.

Pakistan has been actively highlighting the fresh wave of repression of Kashmiris by Indian security forces since protests against the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen Commander Burhan Wani erupted on July 9.

Besides condemnation statements issued by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif,Army Chief Gen Raheel Sharif and the Foreign Office and the summoning of Indian High Commissioner Gautam Bambawale to the FO, briefings have been held for envoys of countries that are permanent members of the UN Security Council, European Union members, and those in the OIC Contact Group on Kashmir.

Pakistani envoys in other countries have also been directed to reach out to their host governments and human rights organisations to inform them about India`s human rights violations in held Kashmir.

Death toll in the current phase of agitation in the valley touched 37 on Thursday with over 1,600 others injured. Life in India-held Kashmir has, meanwhile, remained paralysed for the past six days because of massive protests, strike and curfew.

`Indian security forces are indulging is state terrorism in the IOK [IndiaOccupied Kashmir]. They are terrorising the population. It is condemnable that they are even attacking ambulances and hospitals to deny treatment to Kashmiris on whom they haveunleashed terror attacks,` the spokesman noted.

Mr Zakaria said that the international community should push India to resolve the Kashmir issue through dialogue.

He welcomed UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon`s renewal of offer of his good offices for a dialogue on the Kashmir issue.

`The Secretary General`s good offices on any issue is a standing offer for anything that is going on, but good offices work when two parties both ask for the good offices,` spokesman for the Secretary-General Stephane Dujarric had earlier said in relation to situation in India-held Kashmir, which according to him was being regularly followed by Mr Ban.

The FO spokesman, while underscoring the need for external mediation, noted that the two countries had consistently failed to progress towards resolution of the dispute.

`It is the UN`s official responsibility and obligation to address the issue of Kashmir because there are UN Security Council`s resolutions on it,` hefurther emphasised.

NARAY: The spokesman, however, curiously avoided welcoming the killing of TTP leader Umar Mansour Ameer Naray in a US drone attack in Afghanistan. Naray was the most hated person in Pakistan as he was the mastermind of several high-profile attacks in the country, including the massacre of 144 students and teachers in the Army Public School in Peshawar.

`The DG ISPR has confirmed it. As the drone attack has taken place in Afghanistan, only the Afghanistan government can comment on the use of drones inside their territory,` said Mr Zakaria, who was probably restrained from appreciating the strike because of Pakistan`s position on drone attacks. He had been asked for the government`s comment on Naray`s killing.

The killing of Naray has paved the way for reinforcing counterterrorism cooperation with US and Afghanistan.

While Pakistani officials credit the US for drone attacks against Naray, Afghan Ambassador to Pakistan, Dr Omar Zakhilwal, has said that thestrike had been carried out on the direction of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.

`Recent elimination in Afghanistan of the mastermind of the 2014 Peshawar Army Public School massacre, Umar Mansour (alias Khalifa Mansour), along with his seven close accomplices, was ordered by President Ghani after information about their whereabouts was confirmed,` Mr Zakhilwal said in a statement.

The Afghan envoy said that the elimination of Naray and his accomplices was `a practical testament to the fact that Afghanistan will not treat terrorists as assets and target them without distinction`.

FO spokesman Zakaria, while commenting on Army Chief Gen Raheel Sharif`s instructions to his intelligence agencies and commanders to take action against those using Pakistani soil against Afghanistan, said: `It is an expression of our commitment that we want to see peace and stability in Afghanistan. Peace in Afghanistan is in Pakistan`s own interest.

Mr Zakaria stressed `friendly andcooperative engagement between Afghanistan and Pakistan` for promoting peace and stability in Afghanistan and the region.

The spokesman welcomed Nato`s decision at a recently-held Warsaw summit to continue its support for Afghan security forces.

`Pakistan welcomes all efforts aimed at establishing peace and stability in Afghanistan. The international community`s continued engagement with Afghanistan is important in view of the precarious security situation. We hope that Nato`s continued support to ANSF would strengthen its capacity to deal with challenges,` he said.

CONGRESS HEARING: Playing down the significance of a hearing by US House panel `Pakistan: A friend or foe in the fight against terrorism`, the spokesman said it was very thinly attended and even its chair Ted Poe, who was behind the idea of the hearing, himself did not attend it.

`From the Pak-US common perspective, our two countries are long-time partners and allies in their shared goal of defeating terrorism,` he added.