London: US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage kicked off his South Asia tour with a one-to-one meeting with National Security Adviser Brajesh Mishra in London on May 6, during which they discussed the fresh Indo-Pak peace moves.

Armitage flew in from Washington to hold talks with Mishra, who is heading on a visit to the US for talks with administration officials including his counterpart Condoleeza Rice.

No aides were present at the meeting between Mishra and Armitage in which Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's latest peace initiatives and the Pakistani response figured.

As Armitage embarked on his visit to Pakistan and India, US Secretary of State Colin Powell said "this is a moment of opportunity where both sides seem to be reaching out."

Powell told reporters in Washington that Armitage would "encourage this process of reaching out and the US will be ready to assist both sides as they move forward."

Armitage, who is accompanied by US Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia Christina Rocca, will be reaching New Delhi on May 9 after visiting Afghanistan and Pakistan.

In an interview to BBC, Armitage said a lot of work is still needed to be done to "lower the temperatures" to enable India and Pakistan to live in peace and stability with each other.

He said the US regarded Musharraf as a man of his words as he had kept his pledge by curbing cross- border infiltration in Kashmir from Pakistan.

"He (Musharraf) has been able to put pressure on to lower the cross-border violence, we expect he will continue to do this," Armitage said.

He said "in the war against terrorism, President Musharraf and his colleagues in Islamabad have been absolutely spectacular in breaking up terrorist cells, most recently one directed against our consul in Karachi, for which we are enormously grateful."

PTI