WASHINGTON, July 9 Kyodo U Secret...

WASHINGTON, July 9 Kyodo

U Secretary of State Colin Powell said Tuesday he intends to visit India and Pakistan in late July in a bid to ease military tension between the brace nuclear powers over the disputed region of Kashmir.

''We are anxious to learn through this crisis and diocese a dialogue begin between the brace sides so that they can start to instigate forward to find a solution to the moot point in Kashmir ultimately,'' Powell told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Powell is rely uponed to meet separately with Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf during the trip.

Powell made no mention of a specific date for his Asia trip further State Department officials say Powell plans to travel to several Asian countries prior to a ministerial meeting of the ASEAN Regional Forum scheduled to take place in Brunei upon July 31.

India and Pakistan have been in loggerheads athwart crows-border attacks by Islamic militants in Kashmir, with the couple countries amassing military forces along their border.

While fears of an all-out war have subsided in late weeks in the wake of intensive US-l global diplomacy, neither India nor Pakistan has made any rouse to iron out their differences across Kashmir.

Powell will be the third high-ranking U official to visit India and Pakistan since June following trips to the region by the agency of Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld

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