NEW DELHI, May 24: European Union Commissioner for External Relations Chris Patten on Friday urged Islamabad to turn off “the terrorist tap” in Kashmir and said that India had hardened its stance against Pakistan.

Patten, who arrived from Islamabad on Thursday, told Indian Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh he was of the view that Pakistan had to lower the level of “militant insurgency” into India from Azad Kashmir.

Patten, before meeting Singh, told reporters that it would be a grave error on Pakistan’s part if it continued to pursue “deceptions”.

“Many people in Pakistan will look you in face and say ‘no’ there aren’t any jihadi camps, ‘no’ there is no infiltration from our side but then people don’t (buy) ... that argument anymore.

“I think it would be the most profound miscalculation if anybody in Pakistan thought that turning on and off the terrorist tap could be used as an adjunct to diplomacy,” he said, and urged India and Pakistan to re-establish the dialogue that broke down after the Dec 13 attack on the Indian parliament.

Indian foreign ministry spokeswoman Nirupama Rao said Patten, in his talks with Jaswant Singh, had emphasized that Pakistan must put the “brakes on cross-border guerilla attacks” in occupied Kashmir.

“He was of the view that in order to reduce tensions between India and Pakistan it is absolutely essential that Pakistan reduce the level of infiltration and the levels of terrorist violence in Jammu and Kashmir as a first step,” Rao said.

“Patten said he was able to gauge that the patience of the Indian leadership was almost beyond breaking point and that we need practical examples of genuine and lasting Pakistani action to implement the commitment to eradicate terrorism operating against India as declared in Gen Pervez Musharraf’s Jan 12 speech.”—AFP