ISLAMABAD, July 10: Pakistan on Wednesday welcomed news that US Secretary of State Colin Powell will visit South Asia later this month to further the diplomatic drive to defuse tensions between India and Pakistan.

“The efforts are certainly on and we are appreciating international efforts to drive good sense into India to come to the negotiating table,” Foreign Office spokesman Aziz Ahmed Khan told AFP.

The announcement in Washington overnight of Powell’s visit comes as tensions between India and Pakistan, which eased somewhat in recent weeks, started to rise again amid a new war of words over disputed Kashmir.

Khan said Powell was expected in late July but he did not specify a date.

Powell’s trip will be the latest leg of a marathon diplomatic offensive spearheaded by the United States and Britain, which has seen top international officials travel to South Asia since January amid fears the nuclear capable arch-rivals could stumble into a nuclear war.

“We have worked very hard to keep this thing from blowing up, boiling over on us,” Powell said at a Senate Foreign Relations committee hearing.

Khan said the time was ripe for India to accept Pakistan’s call for dialogue on Kashmir.

“India should start a meaningful dialogue to resolve the issues rather than hiding behind excuses that they make about (cross-border) infiltration,” he said.

Khan accused the Indian leadership of issuing contradictory statements.

“One day one of their ministers says the infiltration has stopped, the other day another minister would say no, it has not stopped.”

Khan reiterated Pakistan’s often repeated call that existing UN-sponsored mechanisms on the LoC should be strengthened as a preferable alternative to India’s suggestion of joint LoC patrols by India and Pakistan.

“Pakistan has offered UN-sponsored monitoring of the Line of Control by strengthening UNMOGIP,” he said, referring to the United Nations Military Observer Group for India and Pakistan.—AFP