WASHINGTON, April 25: A leading Democratic-Congressional leader has urged the Bush administration to prevent the Kashmiris and Afghans from suffering further.

David Boniar, a chief Democratic whip in the House of Representatives, has suggested that the administration should form a Middle East peace mission comprising former presidents— Bill Clinton, Gerlad Ford and Jimmy Carter.

Mr Boniar’s remarks came the other day at a conference in Chicago of 14 bodies of Pakistani Americans sponsored by the Pakistani-American Associations of North America. Also attending the gathering were the chairman of the House Foreign Relations Committee, representative Henry Hyde, Pakistan Ambassador Dr Maleeha Lodhi, Congressmen Jim Moody, Denny Davis, and some academics.

Mr Boniar said, although the crisis in the Middle East had overshadowed the situation in South Asia, the world must not ignore its potential for destabilization.