Srinagar, Mar 3: Leaders of the ruling Congress-PDP coalition in Jammu and Kashmir have hailed Pakistan People's Party Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari's remarks on Kashmir terming these as positive and realistic.

"We welcome (Zardari's) positive and realistic remarks. I hope the emerging democratic set up in Pakistan will focus on strengthening ties with India," senior vice-president of the Jammu and Kashmir Congress Abdul Gani Vakil said.

A stable Pakistan was in the interest of the entire sub-continent, he told party workers in Srinagar on Sunday. Vakil, a Social Welfare Minister in the Ghulam Nabi Azad government, said people were concerned more with economic issues and wanted peace for progress and prosperity.

In a recent TV interview, Zardari had said India and Pakistan should not be held hostage to the Kashmir issue and both could wait for future generations to resolve it in a mature manner.

Welcoming Zardari's remarks, Deputy Chief Minister and senior PDP leader Muzaffar Hussain Beigh said there was need to open up road links between India and Pakistan.

This would facilitate thousands of tourists from South Asia to visit Kashmir, he told a public meeting at Delina in Baramulla district on Sunday. Political instability in Pakistan was a big hurdle in way of resolving the Kashmir issue, Beigh said.

"Had there been stability in Pakistan, the Kashmir issue would have been resolved by now," he said.

Vakil said the dialogue process would get a fillip after the formation of a new government in Pakistan.