ISLAMABAD, Feb 13: President Gen Pervez Musharraf on Wednesday urged the United States to mediate in Kashmir dispute, stating that bilateralism between Islamabad and New Delhi had failed.

“I personally feel that United States is the only country which can play a role in this (Kashmir),” he told CNN in an interview.

Gen Musharraf emphasized that it’s very important because “I personally feel that this kind of escalation that happened now ... the tension and the movement of the forces by Indians followed by us, can happen any time.”

About the terrorist act in Kolkata, he stated that this kind of acts could happen again but “that does not mean that we should move to our borders with all our forces and create such a war hysteria around.”

The president underlined that the only way to address this is “hitting at the root cause of the problem and the root cause of tension which is Kashmir.”

He noted that bilateralism between India and Pakistan on the Kashmir dispute had failed miserably.

“They (Indians) do not talk to us and at the same time when we go around to different countries and the United Nations they say they are violating the Simla Accord.

“So I think this is a gimmick, the word bilateralism is being misused. I am for mediation or for some facilitation, and the country which can do it is United States. I think at the moment the only country is United States. I can safely say that.

“The dangerous moment between India and Pakistan is the escalation, tension and confrontation — so immediate action required is reduction in tension and de-escalation.”

But, he said, the long-term action required was the initiation of the process of dialogue on Kashmir and all other issues. “That requires a bigger commitment from the United States.”—APP