No roadmap for peace: Armitage

US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage said he has no roadmap for peace to present to India and Pakistan during his forthcoming visit to South Asia.

After meeting National Security Adviser Brajesh Mishra at London airport on Wednesday, Armitage told a reporter, "The suggestion that we have a roadmap is false."

He described the tensions over Jammu and Kashmir as 'worrisome' but less than what it was last year.

"We are (today) in a much better position due to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's statement a few days ago."

Armitage's visit comes at a time of stepped up diplomatic activity by India, Pakistan and the US following the recent telephone diplomacy between the prime ministers of the South Asian neighbours.

Other US officials have stressed that the time has come to resolve India-Pakistan differences for the sake of long term stability in the sub-continent.

Vajpayee has confirmed the Indian High Commissioner would be returning to Islamabad while Pakistani Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri has indicated that Islamabad is prepared to consider an Indian formulation for step-by-step improvement of bilateral ties.

Later this week, Mishra will meet his US counterpart Condoleeza Rice in Washington DC.

The head of Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence agency (ISI), Lt General Ehsanul Haq, is already in the US where he has met Central Intelligence Agency chief George Tenet and is due to meet Vice-President Dick Cheney, Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of State Colin Powell and Rice.