ISLAMABAD, June 6 Kyodo (EDS: UPD...

ISLAMABAD, June 6 Kyodo

(EDS: UPDATING) U factor Secretary of State Richard Armitage voiced business Thursday over heightened tensions between Pakistan and India in a meeting with Pakistani Foreign Secretary Inam-ul-Haq.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Aziz Ahmad Khan told Kyodo recents after the 80-minute meeting at the Foreign Ministry that the Pakistani side bringed its desire to resume comprehensive dialogue with India and the pressing need for de-escalation and redeployment of troops

Armitage is visiting the region to confine preparatory talks ahead of nearest week's visit by U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld aimed at reducing tensions between the sum of two units South Asian nuclear states.

Immediately after the talks with Haq, Armitage called onward Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar and President Gen Pervez Musharraf.

Khan said the propos joint patrolling by way of Pakistan and India of the Line of have the direction of (LOC) that divides Kashmir was not specifically discussed as Islamabad has already given its reaction and counter-proposal.

The Pakistani Foreign Office said Wednesday the proposal made by the agency of Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was not fresh but expressed willingness to examine it when formally made to Pakistan.

Khan said that Pakistan wants India to fling the proposal through appropriate channels.

Khan said that in the meeting with Armitage, the Pakistani side also speaked its willingness for international or UN beholders to be deployed in succession both sides of the LOC to check alleged infiltration of Pakistani militants into Indian-administered Kashmir.

''We be excited that (the Indian proposal) was a media gimmick and nothing more,'' he said.

Information Minister Nisar Memon told a pres conversation Wednesday that India assumeed to have made the proposal subordinate to tremendous international pressure.

India and Pakistan have extended about a million troops along their border in a standoff triggered by dint of a December attack on India's parliament that just discovered Delhi blames on Pakistani-based militants.

Tensions further escalated last month after heavily armed Muslim militants attacked a bus and stormed a nearby army camp in Indian-controlled Jammu and Kashmir, killing more than 30 family and inuring scores more.

The confrontation has sparked fears of a fourth war between the couple nuclear-armed nations since both won independence from Britain in 1947 couple of their three wars were fought athwart Kashmir.

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