Powell plans South Asia mission

Call for peace have been growing in both countries

WASHINGTON -- U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell will return to India and Pakistan later in the month in a bid to keep a lid on tensions between the nuclear neighbors on the subcontinent.

The trip is to follow up on work done by the State Department in recent months, when a series of top U.S. officials visited the area in a bid to resolve a tense standoff between the rivals over the disputed state of Kashmir, a flashpoint between the two foes for more than half a century. (Kashmir timeline)

"We are anxious to get through this crisis and see a dialogue begin between the two sides so that they can start to move forward to find a solution to the problem in Kashmir ultimately," Powell told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee during testimony on Tuesday.

The trip is also intended to stress that U.S. interests in the two nations go beyond the crisis in that disputed area.

RESOURCES Interactive timeline: South Asia Powerplay  Photo gallery: Military standoff continues    MARK TULLY U.S. diplomats on South Asia peace mission  • Tully's India archive >>    CNN NewsPass VIDEO History and mystique of Kashmir's Line of Control. CNN's Martin Savidge reports (June 6) Play video   RESOURCES Infographic: India and Pakistan missile range  Infographic: Maps and military    IN-DEPTH India and Pakistan: South Asia power play

India and Pakistan have massed more than a million troops on their border, coming close to war, following an attack on the Indian parliament in December and a bloody raid on an Indian army camp in May, which New Delhi blamed on militants in Pakistan. (Maps and military)

Pakistan has denied that any militants are crossing into the Indian side of Kashmir, and denies it supports them.

Guns that had exchanged heavy cross-border fire have fallen quiet partly due to a flurry of diplomatic efforts, including missions by Powell in October and January, and visits by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage.

Skeptical

But tensions remain, and India has rejected Islamabad's assertions that infiltrations into Indian-controlled Kashmir by Pakistan-based guerrillas have stopped completely.

New Delhi is also skeptical of President Pervez Musharraf's reported pledge to stop them permanently, a promise the United States says he made to Armitage.

The United States believes the infiltrations have dropped significantly but wants to make sure Musharraf makes that trend continue, a U.S. official told Reuters news agency.

"We do want to keep the ball rolling in reducing the tension further. The militaries are still along the border and we would like to see the level of tension go down," he said.

Powell will visit Islamabad and then New Delhi en route to Asia's biggest security meeting in Brunei that runs from July 31 to August 2, a senior State Department official told Reuters news agency.

He is also set to visit Malaysia and other Southeast Asian nations to boost regional security and cooperation against terrorism, Malaysia's foreign minister told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

-- CNN State Department Producer Elise Labott contributed to this report