NEW DELHI, Aug 2: French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin called on India and Pakistan on Friday to resume dialogue to reduce tension between the two South Asian nuclear-armed rivals.

De Villepin told a joint press conference with Indian Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha that he had a “comprehensive dialogue” with members of the government, including Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Defence Minister George Fernandes.

“Naturally, we discussed the question of stability in South Asia. Let us be clear, I do not intend to interfere with an issue that must be settled between India and Pakistan. You hold the keys in your own hands,” said de Villepin.

“Yet, is it conceivable to ignore a problem with possible strategic consequences? It is a fact that in today’s world regional crises are no longer limited. Therefore, we would like to see a resumption of dialogue between India and Pakistan.”

He added that dialogue could not “be imposed from the top but must come from a feeling of trust and respect which has to stem from both India and Pakistan.”

The Indian foreign minister emphasised that Pakistan had to stop what he called “sponsoring cross-border terrorism” to create an atmosphere for peace talks.

“There has been a deliberate attempt by Pakistan-based militants to target political activists in Kashmir in the past months. Our neighbour must stop cross-border terrorism and eschew this kind (of) violence in the run-up to the Kashmir polls next month,” said Sinha.

“We have used this visit as we have used other visits to reiterate that Pakistan must halt cross-border terrorism (and) dismantle terrorist infrastructure so that we can see visible changes on the ground that can bring about a dialogue.”

India and Pakistan have not been on talking terms since an attack on the Indian parliament in New Delhi in December by Muslim militants who India claim were sponsored by Pakistan. Islamabad has denied the charge.

Kashmir, which is India’s only Muslim majority state, has been gripped by a Muslim insurgency since 1989, which has claimed thousands of lives.

India accuses Pakistan of fomenting the insurgency, a charge that Islamabad denies though it admits to extending moral, political and diplomatic support to the Kashmiris.

De Villepin’s trip to South Asia, which also includes a visit to Pakistan, is aimed at strengthening ties between France and the two nuclear-armed countries.

“We reaffirmed our common determination to continue the fight against terrorism within the bilateral framework between India and France and within the United Nations,” de Villepin said earlier after meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani.

He also underlined France’s goal of deepening cooperation with India in the fields of economics and energy, particularly in the civil nuclear power sector.

De Villepin’s visit to Islamabad comes nearly three months after a suicide car bombing in the Pakistani port city of Karachi on May 8 that killed 14 people, 11 of them French naval construction workers.—AFP