HIGHLIGHTS: U.S. Envoy Expects India to Take Steps to Cool Conflict in Next Few Days||Dispute Over Kashmir Remains Hot as Armitage Briefs Rumsfeld in Estonia||International Pressure Working|| STORY: A senior U.S. peace envoy said on Saturday tensions had eased between nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan and that he expected India to take steps to cool the conflict in the next few days.

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage said that among those steps was a possible return of some Indian diplomats to Islamabad and some easing of the military tension as well.

India said on Saturday that it welcomed a Pakistani pledge to stop Kashmiri nationalists' infiltration.

But Armitage cautioned the crisis over the disputed Kashmir region was not over yet.

Armitage was in Estonia -- after holding talks in Pakistan and India -- to brief Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who will visit the South Asian countries next week as the United States presses to calm down the conflict.

ARMITAGE CITES POSITIVE SIGNS

Armitage said Indian officials made positive comments during his meetings.

India and Pakistan scaled down diplomatic ties and started building up troops on the border after a mid-December attack on the Indian parliament that India blamed on Pakistan-based Kashmiri militants.

Their forces have traded fire daily across the militarized Line of Control that divides Kashmir between India and Pakistan.
India also planned to make "some military gestures as well" before Rumsfeld arrives there, Armitage said, but did not give details.

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf made it clear that he would do everything in his power to avoid war, Armitage said.

INTERNATIONAL PRESSURE WORKING?

India and Pakistan have stepped up preparations for war even as governments around the globe feverishly seek to cool tempers but in another sign tension might be easing; India welcomed a pledge by Pakistan to stop infiltration into India by Kashmiri nationalists.

The Indian government said in a statement Secretary of State Colin Powell had called Indian Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh to discuss the "evolving" India-Pakistan situation.

"Mr. Jaswant Singh informed Mr. Colin Powell that India welcomes the pledge that (Pakistani) President Pervez Musharraf has given to...Armitage about immediately and permanently ending cross-border infiltration of Kashmiri nationalists into Jammu and Kashmir," it said.

Armed Kashmiri nationalists have been battling Indian forces in Kashmir since 1989. India says Pakistan trains and arms them. Pakistan says it offers only political support.

PHOTO CAPTION

An Indian Border Security Force soldier patrols near the India-Pakistan border in the western Indian state of Gujarat June 7, 2002. A senior U.S. peace envoy said tensions had eased between nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan and that he expected India to take steps to cool the conflict in the next few days. (Amit Dave/Reuters)