Pakistan will take up the core issue of Kashmir and differences over sharing of river waters during upcoming meetings with the Foreign Secretary and Foreign Minister of India, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said on Thursday.

"As far as the core issue is concerned, it is Kashmir. There cannot be lasting peace in the region without resolving the Kashmir issue," Gilani told reporters in his hometown of Multan. Gilani was responding to a question about criticism from opposition parties that his government was afraid to raise the Kashmir issue with India.