The head of a United Nations military observer group monitoring the disputed border in Kashmir said today he expected tensions to rise in the Himalayan region.
"My assessment is that situation will become more tense in the time coming, not only along L oC (Line of Control) but also in the whole Jammu and Kashmir state," Major General Hermann Loidolt said, referring to the rebellion in India's part of Kashmir.
Mr Loidolt is Chief of United Nations Military Observer India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) monitoring the 740-km Line of Control or ceasefire line which divides Kashmir between India and Pakistan.
His comments came as the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir state reiterated calls for India to strike at guerrilla bases which he said existed in Pakistan to train fighters for Kashmir.
"Unless you smash these breeding centres, you cannot finish terrorism in the state," Farooq Abdullah said in the state's winter capital, Jammu.
Mr Loidolt read a statement to journalists on the annual shifting of the UN mission's headquarters from a heavily-guarded office in Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian administered Kashmir, to Rawalpindi in Pakistan.