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UK troops for joint patrol with US

British Defence Secretary Geoffrey Hoon has admitted that troops from the United Kingdom could be sent to the Line of Control in Kashmir as part of the joint patrolling proposed by the United States.

While New Delhi has rejected the notion so far, Hoon is expected to lobby for it during his visit to the subcontinent next week.

In interviews to the media in London after a meeting with his American counterpart Donald Rumsfeld, Hoon said: "We would be willing to play a part subject to the right conditions. We'd have to look at what was expected of them. We can't put people into a situation of great danger where they are not able to do the job effectively."

But Hoon admitted that India was "not yet wholly persuaded" by the idea of a joint British-American monitoring force. "There had been a general discussion on the need to find a practical way of giving both sides reassurance, particularly India, because there have been some infiltrations across the Line of Control and an international monitoring force could be suitable... We're willing to look at every option to give Pakistan and India a reason not to launch an attack at each other."

The proposal for joint US-UK border patrols along the LoC has been welcomed by Pakistan's top diplomat in London, High Commissioner Abdul Kader Jaffer, who said in a radio interview on Friday that it was a "super idea... We are willing to accept all that the international community says. It shows our good intentions, it shows the intentions of our government and of our president to stop all this that India alleges."

But a defence ministry spokeswoman in London was quick to clarify that "this is basically one option that is being considered, that is being talked about. There are absolutely no plans to go ahead with this at this stage."

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