TOKYO, July 17: The risk of a devastating conflict between Pakistan and India over Kashmir remains real despite recent steps by the two countries to ease tensions, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said on Wednesday.

Speaking here before leaving for India, Straw welcomed President Pervez Musharraf’s condemnation of what he called a senseless attack on Saturday in occupied Jammu in which 28 slum dwellers were gunned down as they listened to a cricket match.

“The risk of conflict is still significant because there are over a million men under arms on either side of the Line of Control in a high state of military readiness,” Straw said in a speech at Keio University.

“In addition to that, with both countries in possession of nuclear weapons, the potential consequences for the region and for the wider world could be devastating,” Straw added.

Straw later discussed the stand-off with Japanese Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi and took the opportunity of a joint news conference to praise both governments for their reaction to the weekend attack.

“We both appreciate the fact that President Musharraf himself has made his condemnation so clear and unqualified. In turn we recognize the very considerable pressures on the government of India but, at the same time, restraint which they have shown.”

In a speech to the Indian parliament on Tuesday, Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani accused Islamabad of unleashing a “terror war against India for two decades”, but stopped short of issuing an ultimatum. He also called upon the United States and other countries to declare Pakistan a terrorist state.

Analysts believe New Delhi is unlikely to take any military action in response to the massacre as it prepares to hold elections in occupied Kashmir.

Straw, who hopes to nudge India and Pakistan towards dialogue over Kashmir’s future when he visits both countries, said he could not comment on remarks he had not seen directly, but Kawaguchi questioned whether the suggested approach (declaring Pakistan a terrorist state) would pay off.

“Simply declaring any country a terrorist state — the point is whether that kind of statement is of any use in really repressing the act of terrorism,” she said through an interpreter.

WITHDRAWAL DENIED: Meanwhile, a report from New Delhi said on Wednesday India has denied reports that it had withdrawn troops from the Pakistan border.