Hours before his meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, President of Pakistani Asif Ali Zardari today said Kashmir remained the core issue between the two nations.

Adressing a press conference, he said Pakistan would continue to provide moral support to the people of Kashmir.

Zardari, who will be meeting Manmohan Singh for the first time, said he would take up with the Indian leader the issue of promoting people-to-people contacts.

Meanwhile, ahead of his much-awaited meeting with Zardari, Manmohan Singh said he would emphasise on the Pakistani leader the need for India and Pakistan to convert the challenges confronting them into opportunities.

Both leaders have made right noises on the eve of their meeting. While Manmohan Singh said he welcomed the advent of democracy in Pakistan and looked forward to working closely with the civilian leadership, Zardari pledged to reorient the the ties with New Delhi in his address to the Pakistan parliament.

However, India is not sure whether Zardari could be taken seriously on his words. The feeling in Indian circles is that the civilian government is not in control of the situation and the army and the ISI continue to be parallel centres of power.

A senior official said India was finding it difficult to deal with Pakistan, as there was no single authority running the show in the neighbouring country. The official said it was easy for India to deal with Islamabad when Pervez Musharraf was the President, as he was the “single-stop shop”.

However, the meeting between Manmohan and Zardari would provide the Indian leader an opportunity to remind Islamabad of its pledge not to allow the misuse of the Pakistani territory for terrorist activities directed against India.