Powell travels to Pakistan, India

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Secretary of State Colin Powell refused Sunday to back the claim by Pakistan's president that his government had stopped militant Muslims from crossing the disputed Kashmiri border into India, but said tensions between the rivals have eased.\nThe crossings are a major source of friction between the nuclear-armed neighbors, who came close to war earlier this year. India says it will not consider dialogue with Pakistan until they are stopped.\n"Everybody agrees that it has gone down," Powell said of infiltrations at a news conference in the Pakistani capital at the end of a two-day visit to the Asian subcontinent. "Some say significantly, some say it's only temporary and not yet significant."\n"With respect to the U.S. position, we are monitoring this carefully," Powell said. "We still are not able to say that they have been stopped, though they have gone down."\nPakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, however, said Sunday that he had done all there was to do to stop Islamic militants from crossing the disputed border into Indian-ruled Kashmir, where a bloody secessionist uprising has killed 60,000 people since it began in 1989.\n"It is not taking place now. Whatever the Indian side is saying is absolutely baseless," said Musharraf, who was not at the news conference. "I don't have to do anything because we've already done it."\nPowell, who visited Islamabad after meeting with Indian leaders in New Delhi, characterized Musharraf's denial as "assurances," a phrasing underlining the delicacy of the situation.\nIn his talks with Musharraf, Powell had to juggle Washington's need for Pakistan's support to capture fleeing al-Qaida and Taliban warriors with demands that cross-border attacks into Indian Kashmir come to an end. He said Washington's commitment to working with Pakistan was "not just for today or tomorrow but for the long haul."\nPowell's message to both India and Pakistan was to urge the two sides to open negotiations.\nOn his third trip to the region since last October, Powell said he saw signs that the two neighbors may be inching toward fresh talks that could lead to a lasting peace.\n"I am hopeful that if we keep moving in the direction we've been moving in the past couple of months, where the tension has been going down and where there have been some preliminary de-escalatory steps ... I think the possibility of dialogue in the near future is something that can be achieved," Powell said.\nAfter giving the news conference, Powell flew to Thailand, arriving in Bangkok early Monday for a 20-hour visit during which he is scheduled to meet with Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.\nIn New Delhi, Powell had called for India to release political prisoners and find ways to convince Kashmiris that elections this fall in Indian-ruled Kashmir will be free and fair. He also said both Pakistan and India had to ensure the safety of those who wanted to contest elections or vote.\nA spokeswoman for India's foreign ministry on Sunday rejected Powell's call to free political prisoners, saying those in prison are either criminals or terrorists. India has arrested several Kashmiri political leaders.\n"They are the people who violate the law, work against national interests and have links with groups that foment terrorism," Nirupama Rao said.\nRao reiterated that India would not permit international monitors in Kashmir, but said individual diplomats and journalists can travel to the state during the elections.\nIndia accuses Pakistan of arming, training and helping militants to cross the Kashmir frontier to launch attacks. Pakistan, which controls a third of Kashmir, has said it supports the guerrillas' cause, but denies it provides material aid.\nBoth nations claim Kashmir in its entirety and have fought two wars over it.\nTensions between India and Pakistan flared last year after an attack on the Indian parliament that New Delhi blamed on Pakistan, resulting in a massive deployment of troops by both sides. Escalating tensions also generated world fears that a war in South Asia could result in the use of nuclear weapons.\nBoth India and Pakistan conducted underground nuclear tests in 1998 and both say they have inducted nuclear weapons into their arsenals, but neither has specified the type or numbers of nuclear weapons.\nIn Pakistan, Musharraf is under pressure from Islamic militants, who accuse him of betraying Kashmiri insurgents who have been fighting since 1989 to press their demand that a united Kashmir be either independent or joined with Islamic Pakistan.\nThey have threatened to topple Musharraf.\nOn Saturday, a fourth person was arrested in Pakistan in connection with a plot to assassinate Musharraf in southern Karachi last April using an explosive-laden truck. That same vehicle was later used in an attack against the U.S. Consulate in Karachi that killed 14 people, all of them Pakistanis.\nPakistani authorities say al-Qaida was involved in the attacks.