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NEW DELHI, Jan 13 (AFP) - Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf's landmark address attacking religious extremism offers little to India and contains oft-repeated positions on the Kashmir dispute, Indian media said Sunday.

"Cold comfort in Musharraf message," ran the headline of the Hindustan Times, which said the Pakistani leader's much-awaited speech fell "far short of expectations."

Newspapers said although Musharraf said he would not allow Pakistan's territory to be used for terrorism in Kashmir, he tried to make a case for mediation by a third country over the divided state -- an issue India insists should be solved bilaterally.

"General Musharraf's televised address was a clever performance aimed as much at enforcing the writ of the Pakistani state and army as at confounding the Indian government with his grand declartations on Kashmir," The Times of India said.

In a piece headlined "India will want proof of change on the ground," the newspaper said his words might not necessarily translate into action.

But some in the Indian media also saw hope in Musharraf's statement that the dispute should be resolved though dialogue and his urging Pakistani people to shun religious extremism and the path of jihad, or holy war.

In a front-page assessment of the speech, The Indian Express urged India to "give him (Musharraf) a chance to act on a landmark policy."

"He has promised severe punishment for violation of the new norms and terrorism inside and outside by Pakistanis. This is a major shift from even his own formulation earlier, where he had been making a distinction between terrorism that he condemned and jihad in Kashmir which he supported," the Express said.

Indian media said the government was likely to wait and see if a crackdown on extremist groups targetting India follows before responding to an offer by Musharraf to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee for dialogue.

Musharraf on Saturday banned two Kashmiri militant groups blamed by India for the December 13 attack on its parliament, but mixed his message with a warning that Pakistan would meet any aggression from its neighbour with "full force".

The Hindustan Times said his banning of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed had been long expected and preceded warnings which would have given enough time to the groups to change their names and keep operating.

Musharraf reiterated he would never hand over any Pakistani citizens on India's list of 20 "most wanted" alleged terrorists.

"The question to hand over any Pakistani does not arise. We will never do it," Musharraf said in his address. 

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