Won't step in Kashmir until both parties ask: UN

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday said the UN would play a role in resolving the situation in Kashmir when India and Pakistan wanted the world body to step in.

"As far as this role of good offices is concerned, the United Nations normally takes that initiative when requested by both parties concerned," Ban told mediapersons during his monthly briefing at the UN headquarters.

"India and Pakistan, they are neighbouring countries, important nations in that region -- peace and security would have important implications," he said.

Kashmir Valley has been in grip of violent protests since June. "I regret the latest loss of life. I have been calling for an immediate end to violence and urge calm and restraint by all concerned," Ban said.

"That is the position of the United Nations at this time." While India maintains that Kashmir is an internal matter, Pakistan asserts that it is on the UN docket and has been calling for international intervention especially from the United States.

Last week, External Affairs Minister S M Krishna told the UN that Pakistan was sponsoring terrorism in Kashmir, and this later led to a strong exchange of words between the diplomats of both nations with Islamabad accusing New Delhi of sponsoring terrorism in the region.

"Jammu and Kashmir, which is an integral part of India, is the target of Pakistan-sponsored militancy and terrorism," Krishna had said.

On Monday, Pakistan's former president Pervez Musharraf said his country had trained militants to fight in Kashmir. "They (underground militant groups to fight against India in Kashmir) were indeed formed," Musharraf had told German magazine Der Spiegel.

Reacting to Musharraf's statement, India on Wednesday said the former Pakistan president's assertion that his country had trained militants to fight in Kashmir only confirms what New Delhi had been repeatedly saying over the years.