NEW DELHI, Nov 27: Prince Karim Aga Khan, spiritual leader of Ismailis, has described the strife in Jammu and Kashmir as an issue of extreme despondency, on a par with the conflict in the Middle East, The Times of India reported on Saturday.

The Aga Khan, currently on a visit here, told the newspaper that he was disturbed by the profiling of the world's billion-plus Muslims as terrorists.

"I am deeply worried about more than a billion people being tarred by specific historical and regional issues projected as religious one. Whether you look at the Middle East or Kashmir, there are issues of extreme frustration and despondency," he said.

The 68-year-old prince and spiritual leader of Ismailis is in New Delhi to present the 2004 Aga Khan Award for Architecture. This $500,000 triennial prize was presented on Saturday at Mughal Emperor Humayun's Tomb, a site spectacularly restored largely by his foundation.

Asked to explain his theory of the 'clash of ignorance', the phrase he preferred to Samuel Huntington's notorious 'Clash of Civilizations', the Aga Khan said: "The West's understanding, its academic context is still Judeo-Christian. Its apprehensions rise from a lack of knowledge about Islam."

The Aga Khan said it was unfair to look at the world's hotspots only in relation to Islam.

"I give you North Ireland, Spain, the Tamil question, the tribal relations in Africa. The Middle East is an inheritance of the First World War. If you leave a problem to - forgive me for using an ugly word -- pullulate, decade after decade, it's certain to end up with deep sickness."