SRINAGAR, June 24: Kashmiri leader Shabir Shah told a visiting European Union delegation on Thursday that the Europeans should help steer talks between Pakistan and India.

"I have urged the EU parliamentarians to facilitate resolution of (the dispute on) Kashmir by monitoring talks between India and Pakistan," he told AFP after the meeting.

"I know they don't want to mediate unless asked by both the sides. But I told them they can act as facilitators," said Shabir Shah, who has spent more than 20 years in prison for espousing Kashmir's secession from India.

The leader of the six-member delegation, John Cushnahan, an Irish member of the European parliament, said on Tuesday that the team was here only to "learn about the situation."

Leaders of the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front told the Europeans that Kashmiris had to be actively involved in any negotiations on the territory's fate. "By sidelining Kashmiris, no solution can be reached," a party statement said. -AFP