UK ministers seek Kashmir role

Hoon, who arrived in Pakistan Tuesday from Afghanistan, left for India later Wednesday

NEW DELHI, India (CNN) -- Despite New Delhi's insistence that third-party mediation in Kashmir was unwanted, the British defence and foreign affairs ministers are heading to India.

Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon is in New Delhi on the third leg of a regional tour in an attempt to further diffuse tension between nuclear rivals India and Pakistan.

Hoon is scheduled to meet with Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, following talks with President Pervez Musharraf in Pakistan.

The challenge confronting Hoon was highlighted by India's new External Affairs Minister, Yashwant Sinha, who indicated Kashmir remained an issue to be resolved by the feuding parties.

"There is absolutely no scope for any third party intervention or role in as far as the Jammu and Kashmir dispute is concerned between Pakistan and India," Sinha said.

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British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw will return to India and Pakistan this month to meet with government officials about the Kashmir crisis, his ministry said Wednesday.

"We welcome the lowering of tensions, but the international community needs to remain engaged," a Foreign Office spokesman was quoted as saying by The Associated Press.

The dates of the visit were not given, but Straw is expected to reach India and Pakistan after trips to China, Hong Kong and Japan. Straw visited South Asia in May in a bid to avert a war between India and Pakistan

'Great concern'

After meeting with Indian Defence Minister George Fernandes, Hoon spoke with reporters about the situation in South Asia.

"We had a very full exchange about relevant issues including the importance ... of controlling infiltration across the line of control that remains a matter of great concern to the United Kingdom and something we strongly emphasized to the government of Pakistan," said Hoon.

His remarks came as the Indian foreign minister put Pakistan on notice that New Delhi believed the situation along the Line of Control was once again deteriorating, and infiltrations from Pakistani-controlled Kashmir increasing.

"Initially there was evidence of some reduction in infiltration, which in recent days seems to have gone back to the situation which prevailed prior to May 24 (when Musharraf stated attempts would be made to end the incursions)," said Sinha.

"We are looking not only at the assurance from Pakistan that (terrorist) infiltration from across the border will be permanently stopped but we are looking for visible and credible signs of that action. We have already said that our responses will depend on the action on the part of Pakistan as far as this aspect is concerned," he said.

Shelling continues

Pakistan flatly rejected the charge, saying there were no incursions across the military control line dividing Kashmir.

India wants Pakistan to stop the militants' infiltration from its soil as a key condition to end a military standoff with its neighbor.

Close to a million troops are massed on both sides of the border in a standoff that eased last month only after Musharraf promised to stop militants from crossing to Kashmir to join the revolt against Indian rule.

In Kashmir itself this week, there was more shelling across the Line of Control, including significant damage in Drass, a small valley township 60 km west of Kargil on the road to Srinagar.