OTTAWA (Reuters) - Foreign ministers from the world's leading nations expressed grave concern on Friday over the standoff between India and Pakistan and called on Islamabad to stop "terrorist groups" operating from territory under its control.
The ministers from the Group of Eight said in a rare joint statement that they were "gravely concerned about the risks inherent in the current crisis between India and Pakistan, which could destabilize the region and beyond".
India and Pakistan, which both have nuclear weapons, are under increasing international pressure to avert war.
The two countries have deployed about a million troops along their borders since a December attack on India's Parliament that New Delhi blamed on Pakistan-based militants fighting its rule in the disputed region of Kashmir.
"We call on Pakistan, in accordance with its commitments, to take concrete actions immediately to end infiltrations across the Line of Control (dividing Kashmir), and to stop terrorist groups operating from territory under its control," the G8 foreign ministers said in their statement.
Canadian Foreign Minister Bill Graham, who chairs the G8 foreign ministers group, said he had reinforced the message in separate phone calls early on Friday with the foreign ministers of both India and Pakistan.
"I urged my Pakistani counterpart (Abdul Sattar) to ensure that actions as well as words would be used to constrain terrorism and terrorist acts across the line. He assured me that they are doing that. But it's clear that now is the time for strong actions on Pakistan's part."
During the conversation, Sattar repeated Pakistan's call for international observers to monitor guerrilla infiltration across the Line of Control, an idea that India rejects. Graham said he would discuss the idea with his G8 colleagues.
The ministers -- who will decide at a mid-June meeting whether to launch a special G8 initiative in the region -- said they would "remain actively engaged in contributing to the peaceful solution" of the standoff.
"We call on India and Pakistan to continue to work with the international community to ensure that there will be a diplomatic solution to the current crisis," they said.
Graham said that during his conversation with Indian Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh, he had urged restraint.
"We're calling, really, on (Pakistan's) President Musharraf to make those steps to show he clearly is in control of all terrorist acts. India must be satisfied of that and we're saying to the Indians 'Give them a chance to do that'," he said.
The G8 comprises the Group of Seven leading industrialized nations -- Canada, Britain, the United States, Japan, Italy, France and Germany -- plus Russia.
Graham also said that Ottawa had suggested the roughly 6,000 Canadians in India and Pakistan should leave unless they had essential business there.
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