Separatists in Jammu and Kashmir have voiced their dismay over Pakistan Peoples Party Chairman Asif Ali Zardari's statement expressing his readiness to set aside the Kashmir issue to focus on other aspects of Indo-Pak relations.India and Pakistan could foster friendly ties, ''but cannot do so by suppressing the Kashmir issue. It is imperative they resolve it as per the wishes and aspirations of its people,'' JKLF chairman Yasin Malik said on Sunday.He said the past 18 years in Jammu and Kashmir have seen thousands widowed and orphaned and ''their sacrifices cannot be forgotten''.Zardari had said in a TV inteview in Islamabad telecast on Saturday that India and Pakistan should not be held ''hostage'' to the Kashmir issue and they could wait for future generations to resolve it in a mature manner.Former Hurriyat Conference Chairman Abdul Gani Bhat said a delay in resolution of the issue would have ''serious ramifications'' and pose a potential threat to nuclear peace in the South Asian region.''Zardari or any other person has to bear in mind that survival of the whole region is inescapably linked with resolution of the Kashmir issue,'' Bhat, a known supporter of Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, said.Shabir Ahmad Shah, who recently joined the Hurriyat moderates, said it was ''premature'' to react to Zardari's statement, as ''it is not known under what context it was made''.The PPP had not formed government in Pakistan yet and would have to take into confidence its alliance partners before making such a policy decision, Shah said. Going a step further, Kashmir High Court Bar Association Nazir Ahmad Roonga called the statement reflects Zardari's ''political immaturity'' and a shift from the Kashmir policy of his wife, late Pakistan Prime Minister and PPP president Benazir Bhutto.