Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has linked lasting peace in South Asia to the resolution of the festering Kashmir dispute with nuclear arch-rival India, reports said yesterday.

"The Kashmir dispute has to be resolved for the establishment of lasting peace in the region," mainstream newspapers quoted Musharraf telling reporters in Harpsund, Sweden, after talks with Swedish Prime Minister Goeran Persson.

"Without resolution of the longstanding dispute there cannot be durable peace," Musharraf said.

Musharraf arrived in Sweden on an official visit on Sunday as the first Pakistani head of state to visit the Scandinavian country. He will also visit Finland.

The Pakistani leader said three parties were involved in the Kashmir dispute -- Pakistan, India and the people of the Himalayan state of

Kashmir.

India says all of Muslim-majority Kashmir is an integral part of its territory and accuses Pakistan of fomenting an insurgency against Indian rule that has claimed tens of thousands of lives since 1989.

Pakistan, which controls about a third of the disputed region, rejects the charges but calls the rebellion a "freedom struggle" and demands a plebiscite among Kashmiris as called for by UN resolutions.

The two countries, which have fought three wars, were on the brink of nuclear confrontation over Kashmir in 2002 after an Islamic militant attack on the Indian parliament which New Delhi alleged was carried out by Pakistani-backed rebel groups.

Relations between the two countries began to thaw in April last year and both have been observing a ceasefire along the disputed Kashmir border since November.

The countries, wrapping up their first Kashmir talks in three years,

issued a statement last month pledging to "continue the sustained and serious dialogue to find a peaceful, negotiated final settlement" on the dispute.

Meanwhile, Pakistan Monday said it had not approved India's fencing of a de-facto border in divided Kashmir and accused its traditional rival of violating bilateral and international agreements.

"We have not given any understanding or approval to the construction of the fence along the LoC (Line of Control)," foreign ministry spokesman Masood Khan told a weekly press briefing.

"We have not given tacit or open understanding and the fact is that repeatedly we have approached the Indian authorities and reminded them that construction of the fence along the LoC is in violation of bilateral agreements and the international agreements that Pakistan and India subscribe to."