U.N. offers to kick-start Kashmir talks

Musharraf: International mediation needed urgently

UNITED NATIONS -- U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan has urged India and Pakistan to begin dialogue over the Kashmir dispute and offered United Nations help to begin the process.

India is unlikely to take up the offer, however, as New Delhi has repeatedly rejected the use of any third party in talks between both bitter nuclear foes.

New Delhi also turned down an offer from Annan to visit India during his Central Asia tour last month. The U.N. head stopped off in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran instead.

Briefing the U.N. Security Council on his trip, Annan said he told Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf there was a need "for immediate military de-escalation but also for a sustained and determined dialogue" to avoid future crises, Reuters news agency reported.

Sparked by a deadly suicide attack in December on Indian parliament, both sides have amassed hundreds of thousands of troops on their shared border and mobilized their militaries in the biggest armed face-off in decades.

New Delhi has blamed the attack on Pakistan-based militants. It also accused Islamabad of offering such groups military training and weapons.

Pakistan has denied the charges, saying it only offers moral and diplomatic support to what it calls 'freedom fighters in Kashmir."

'Readiness for dialogue'

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During a national address in January, Musharraf vowed to crack down on religious extremism and outlawed several militant groups.

Annan told the 15-member council that the Pakistani leader was "very concerned about the military build-up and expressed his readiness for dialogue."

During a visit to Pakistan-controlled Kashmir earlier this week, Musharraf said that international mediation was urgently needed.

"We have repeatedly said that Pakistan wants tension-free relations with India and for that purpose desires to resolve the Jammu and Kashmir dispute and all other outstanding issues through peaceful means," Musharraf said on Monday.

"I take this opportunity to once again urge the Indian leadership to sit with us at the negotiating table."

India rejected the call arguing that it would not venture into talks with Pakistan until Islamabad halts what New Delhi says is "cross border terrorism."

India controls almost half of Kashmir, Pakistan about a third and China the rest since the regions division in the period flowing the split of British India in 1947.

Both Pakistan and India lay claim to the territory where more than 30,000 people have been killed since a military insurgency campaign began in 1989.