Washington: In a bid to educate legislators of an American state on Kashmir, India's Ambassador to US Lalit Mansingh has told them that the state continued to face cross- border infiltration of terrorists from Pakistan, which is the world's "most notorious breeding ground for terrorism".

In a letter to the leaders of New Hampshire legislature, which recently passed a resolution on Kashmir under the active influence of anti-India and pro-Pak elements, with accompanying speeches reflecting Pakistani propaganda, Mansingh said cross- border terrorism is continuing in Kashmir despite Islamabad's pledges to US to stop it.

"I am writing with regard to House Concurrent Resolution 16, urging increased diplomacy to achieve a just, peaceful and rapid resolution of the conflict between India and Pakistan, relative to the state of Jammu and Kashmir," Mansingh said in the letter.

"Pakistan's territorial claims on India are both irredentist and illegitimate… Over the last 55 years, it has sought to expand those territorial ambitions through the use of force," Mansingh said.

"Having initiated and lost three wars with India, Pakistan now relies on the use of terrorism to achieve its political objectives," he said.

Mansingh said, "Pakistan today is the world's most notorious breeding ground for terrorism. Its nurturing of the al-Qaida and the Taleban in Afghanistan and its continuing acts of terrorism against India are products of the same 'jihadi' culture that the Pakistan military has assiduously fostered over the years."

Bush Administration "has acknowledged that the solemn commitments made by the President of Pakistan to the government of the United States to put a complete end to terrorist infiltration from Pakistan into India, remain unfulfilled", Mansingh said.

"In the last two decades, over 60,000 of our citizens, including 30,000 in the state of Jammu and Kashmir alone, have been killed by Pakistan-based terrorists," he said.

Mansingh said, "The state of Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of the Republic of India, which is the world's largest and most vibrant Democracy. India's Constitution has features similar to that of the United States.

"The people of state of Jammu and Kashmir have regularly participated in free and fair elections, most recently in September-October, 2002. As in the rest of India, they have used the ballot box as a vehicle to voice their aspirations and their grievances. Their rights are respected and protected by the Constitution and by a fiercely independent judiciary.

"I am concerned that the Concurrent Resolution adopted by the New Hampshire state Assembly may not have taken cognisance of these facts. I would welcome the opportunity to discuss these matters with you (leaders of the House) at greater length."

The Indian Ambassador sent identical letters to Arthur P Klemm Jr, President of the New Hampshire Senate and Gene G Chandler, Speaker of the New Hampshire House of Representatives.

Foreign policy is supposed to be the prerogative of the US President but, now and then, some of the 50 states of US stray into the field without proper background.

PTI