London: Britain has said that the Kashmir problem between India and Pakistan has stemmed out of "some quite serious mistakes" committed by it by not demarcating the boundaries even two days after their Independence from the British rule.

"India, Pakistan - we made some quite serious mistakes. We were complacent with what happened in Kashmir, the boundaries weren't published until two days after Independence. Bad story for us, the consequences are still there," Britain's Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said in an interview to the 'New Statesman' magazine.

In controversial remarks, Straw said that Britain was to blame for many of the world's current crises, ranging from the Indian sub-continent to the Middle East and Africa.

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"There's a lot wrong with imperialism," he told the magazine. "A lot of the problems I have to deal with now are a consequence of our colonial past."

Straw, who described himself as a "democratic socialist", contradicted the views of Robert Cooper, one of his own senior diplomats, who coined the phrase "liberal imperialism" to describe recent military interventions by the government in Kosovo, Sierra Leone and Afghanistan.

He also singled out Afghanistan, "where we played less than a glorious role over a century and a half."

Opposition Conservative Party accused him of undermining British foreign policy, particularly in Zimbabwe, which has justified its land grab as a way of righting the wrongs of colonialism.

However, Downing Street, the Prime Minister's Office, stood by the Foreign Secretary, saying his remarks were "a sensible statement of history".

PTI