Girl with flags
© Reuters/Amit Dave
Pakistan has welcomed a message from India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi, calling for the cessation of violence and for a terror-free atmosphere, after weeks of clashes between the nuclear-armed rivals at their border in Kashmir.

"It's time that the people of the sub-continent work together for a democratic, peaceful, progressive and prosperous region, in an atmosphere free of terror and violence," Modi was quoted as saying by the Prime Minister Imran Khan late Friday, after Islamabad received the greetings from New Delhi on the eve of Pakistan's National Day.

Prime Minister Khan welcomed Modi's desire to turn a page on the conflict, noting that the time has come for the rivals to begin a "comprehensive dialogue" to resolve the tensions and to "forge" a relationship of peace and prosperity.

Hostilities between India and Pakistan flared up last month when Indian forces conducted an air raid against suspected terrorist camps in Pakistani territory. That operation came in presumed retaliation for a deadly suicide-bomb attack on an Indian paramilitary police convoy in the Kashmir region.