Non-Kashmiris who are fighting against Indian troops in the disputed territory are not "freedom fighters" but terrorists, former Pakistani prime minister Ms Benazir Bhutto said.
"Let me clear here that non-Kashmiris are not freedom fighters and indigenous Kashmiris are fighting for their freedom," Ms Bhutto told the Greater Kashmir, a daily in the Indian-administered territory.
"I also call non-Kashmiri militants as terrorists," she told the newspaper in an interview from New Delhi, where she is on a private visit.
Ms Bhutto had been asked about India's stand that Pakistan supports "cross-border terrorism" in the form of Islamic militants crossing the disputed border to target Indian forces.
Pakistan considers militancy in Kashmir an indigenous movement for self-determination.
Ms Bhutto hinted her position may eventually be adopted by Pakistani President Gen Pervez Musharraf. She notes that she was ahead of Mr Musharraf in breaking ranks with Afghanistan's fundamentalist Taliban.
But Ms Bhutto, who in 1988 became Pakistan's first woman prime minister, said she opposed hardline Kashmiri groups such as Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba "which are trying to hijack the Kashmir movement".
She called for India and Pakistan to resolve all issues, including Kashmir, through dialogue.
AFP