Bush steps into South Asian conflict

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- U.S. President George W. Bush has made a personal appeal to the leaders of India and Pakistan, urging them to step back from the brink of a war, as the nuclear foes show no sign of resolving the standoff over Kashmir.

The U.S. leader phoned Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee on Wednesday, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said, raising the level of global diplomatic efforts to head off a full-scale conflict on the subcontinent.

The call came as America and Britain stepped up warnings asking their citizens to leave the region. (Full story)

MARK TULLY U.S. diplomats on South Asia peace mission  • Tully's India archive >>    RESOURCES Infographic: India and Pakistan missile range  Infographic: Maps and military    GALLERY India and Pakistan: Tensions rise  Photo diary: Tense two weeks    CNN NewsPass VIDEO CNN's Matthew Chance says the chances for peace between the two nations may have been set back (June 4) Play video CNN talks to Pakistan's president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, about the threat of war with India. (Part 1) Play video Musharraf interview. (Part 2) Play video CNN's Suhasini Haidar examines the historical background of Kashmir and why the region is in such turmoil today. Play video   IN-DEPTH India and Pakistan: South Asia power play     QUICKVOTE Do you think a major conflict between India and Pakistan will be averted? Yes No View Results

It also came one day after the Indian and Pakistan leaders shunned global efforts to talk face-to-face on the sidelines of a regional summit in Kazakhstan, in a bid to cool the latest tensions in the drawn-out conflict. (Kashmir history)

Since a December raid on India's parliament, the South Asian neighbors have massed close to a million troops along their borders in their dispute over the northern territory of Kashmir. (Maps and military)

While Kashmir has been a flashpoint for more than half a century tensions between the two have mounted since a May raid on an Indian camp in Kashmir. (A tense few weeks)

New violence in Kashmir claimed 13 lives on Wednesday.

Path of diplomacy

Fears that millions could be killed in the first atomic war between nuclear-armed states has prompted world leaders to step up diplomatic pressure to pull them back from the brink.

Bush became the latest voice on the global stage, stressing to both countries "the need to choose the path of diplomacy," Ari Fleischer, White House press secretary, told reporters.(Full story)

U.S. officials say they want to see Musharraf do more to stop incursions by militants into Indian-controlled Kashmir and would like to see India respond by taking steps to reduce tensions.

India insists that Pakistan stops what it calls 'cross-border terrorism" by Muslim guerrillas that has stoked a 12-year rebellion in Hindu-dominated India's only Muslim-majority state.

During the Almaty summit, Vajpayee also called on Islamabad to dismantle militant camps on the Pakistani side of the line.

But Pakistan maintains there is no infiltration across the Line of Control that divides Kashmir and has called for independent observers, such U.N. monitors, to be allowed to verify this.

Cool reaction

Pakistan rejected a proposal by India for joint patrols along the disputed mountain border in Kashmir to end the infiltration of Pakistan-based militants, saying it was a media ploy to divert attention from other issues.

The proposal isn't new and is "unlikely to work" in easing cross-border tensions, Pakistan said in rejecting the offer Wednesday.

The United Nations, which drew the boundary known as the Line of Control in 1972, already monitors it, Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a written statement.

"If India is serious about the possibility, it should be discussed government-to-government, not in offhand comments to the media," Gen. Rashid Qureshi told CNN.

Officials too have said the joint patrols are not a new idea and they are unlikely to work.

Meanwhile, In New Delhi, military officials told CNN they had intercepted radio communications between suspected Islamic militants in Indian Kashmir and on the Pakistani side that advised them to "lie low."

The sources, who said they had not witnessed any changes, said it would take at least five weeks for India to confirm that any cessation in cross-border movements was long lasting.

Diplomatic bids

In a last-ditch effort to prevent the daily skirmishes across the border from escalating into the fourth war between the old foes, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage is due in Islamabad on Thursday before going on to New Delhi.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is to arrive in the region next week. He met with British Defense Secretary Geoff Hoon in London Wednesday. (Full story)

Musharraf has already expressed hope visits by the two high-ranking officials will ease the conflict.

Pakistan on Wednesday ordered the expulsion of an Indian diplomat after accusing him of spying, according to Reuters news agency. Both sides have already significantly reduced their staff in the other country and frequently engage in tit-for-tat exchanges.

Although both countries have downplayed the possibility that a new war could turn nuclear, India has an estimated 100 to 150 nuclear warheads and Pakistan 25 to 50.

-- CNN White House Correspondent Kelly Wallace and Senior White House Correspondent John King contributed to this report