NEW DELHI, June 12: If a suggestion by US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to Indian leaders is acceptable to both Islamabad and New Delhi, satellites and sensors sophisticated enough to pick up the sound of a footfall could be put in service to help ease tensions over Kashmir.

The United States and Britain have dismissed news reports that they might commit troops to the Line of Control (LoC) to ascertain Indian charges that guerillas cross the LoC from Azad Kashmir into occupied Kashmir.

Nor does either country have sufficient helicopters to spare the 300 some experts say it would take to police the 740-km line of control that snakes along some of the world’s toughest terrain high in the Himalayas.

The US defense secretary said the possible use of electronic ground sensors to detect incursions had come up on Wednesday at talks he had with Indian leaders.

Washington, according to published reports, has shown both sides equipment ranging from infra-red cameras of the type used to try to stop Mexicans crossing the U.S. border illegally to sophisticated radar that can see through cloud.

It also was reported to have granted India an 800,000 dollars test batch of sensors so advanced they can detect a single footstep when Prime Minister Vajpayee visited the United States last November.

“They had them 30 years ago in Vietnam and they were good then,” said Brian Cloughley, a South Asia defence specialist who has walked about one-third of the line of control.

“Nowadays, they ping their message up to a satellite and it comes down on someone’s computer,” Cloughley said. “You can tell how many men, you can tell how they’re moving and you can tell pretty well what they’re armed with.”

Cloughley, however, argued that without close cooperation between Indian and Pakistani forces, a prospect he termed unlikely, or foreign troops technology would be of limited use.

He estimated it would take 700 soldiers to monitor the line of control effectively. “It’s pretty hairy up there. I’ve been up to 16,000 feet (5,000 metres) and it’s not much fun,” he said.

“But it’s not impractical at all. They would be soldiers and they’re used to assessing terrain very quickly. To a professional soldier it’s just another job.”

Ashok Mehta, a retired major-general in the Indian army, said any verification mechanism would be fraught with difficulty given the terrain, which ranges from low-lying forest to high peaks.

He said the Indian army estimated that on average for each “infiltration bid” it has foiled, two or three succeed.

“Ingenuity, determination and mountaineering and stealth skills cannot be blocked by soldiers and sensors,” Mehta said.

Hi-tech foreign input could help bridge the gap on so-called “cooperative monitoring”.

“I don’t right now see the need for US monitors,” U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, who preceded Rumsfeld to the region, said on Tuesday.

Asked, however, whether the United States would be willing to share aerial surveillance data, he told American PBS television:

“I think this is very much something that can be considered, and if there’s a willingness from both sides to engage in it, I think the United States would be delighted.”

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, another of the key players in diplomatic efforts to defuse tensions, told parliament on Monday that Britain would consider sending military advisers if asked, but added that no request had been made.

As for ground forces, Straw said the main proposition in all his discussions had been for joint Indian and Pakistani patrols.

“Given the dangers on the line of control, its length and the terrain, that is effectively the only candidate for patrolling that difficult territory,” Straw said.—Reuters