Rumsfeld due in India to defuse Kashmir standoff

US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld arrives in New Delhi today, seeking to further ease a military standoff between India and…

US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld arrives in New Delhi today, seeking to further ease a military standoff between India and Pakistan over Kashmir.

India took a first step to defusing the situation yesterday by reopening its airspace to Pakistani flights, but Mr Rumsfeld warned that the confrontation between the two nuclear-armed neighbors was still volatile.

"It is still a tense situation with respect to India and Pakistan. There are hundreds and hundreds of thousands of armed troops on each side that are opposing each other," Mr Rumsfeld said in Kuwait.

Mr Rumsfeld, due in India after a tour which included stops in the Gulf and in Europe, was to move on to Islamabad after his planned meetings with Indian leaders.

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An Indian foreign ministry spokeswoman, Mr Nirupama Rao, said New Delhi would announce further steps to reduce tensions if Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf made good on a pledge of firm action against Islamic militants India blames for attacks on Indian targets.

"...Today's announcement should be seen as an indication of our continued monitoring of the situation, our desire for peace, because to peace there is no alternative," Mr Rao told a news conference.

Mr Rumsfeld arrives in the region a day after US authorities said they had captured a suspected al Qaeda operative who arrived in the United States from Pakistan last month, carrying out reconnaissance for an attack with a radioactive "dirty bomb."

Mr Rumsfeld said in Bahrain before leaving for India that the world must also guard against "a very new kind of warfare."

"It is not the task of competing with major armies, or navies, or air forces," Rumsfeld said. "Terrorist states are seeking weapons of mass destruction, let there be no doubt. We have all the evidence anyone needs."

President Musharraf has promised to stop Islamic militants crossing into Indian Kashmir to join a revolt against Indian rule and to curb their operations inside Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

Islamabad welcomed the announcement that India had re-opened its airspace to Pakistani overflights but said further action had to follow.

"This is a step in the desired direction, but a lot more needs to be done," Pakistan's Foreign Ministry spokesman Mr Aziz Ahmed Khan said. "I would emphasize the most important thing is that the process of dialogue (on Kashmir) should commence."