Lahore: While speculation over the existence of a US road map to a resolution of the Kashmir issue continues, a New York-based publication, 'India Abroad', has provided details of a plan it says was drafted in the form of a "mission paper" by the US Embassy in Islamabad.

Portions of this report that appeared in the May 16 issue of the magazine have also been picked up by Washington-based correspondents of local newspapers and produced in the national press, according to 'Gulf News'.

As per this plan, Washington hopes there will be a settlement on Kashmir by 2005. It spells out a soft border between the "divided" Kashmir and resumption of civilian traffic and, by implication, trade.

While there is no statement as to what the final settlement will involve, there is a hint that this could involve turning the line of control (LoC) into a permanent border, in fact bringing about the "split" Kashmiri leaders fear will be imposed on them.

The American plan envisages India and Pakistan jointly monitoring the LoC by the year 2004.

But Washington has firmly denied previous press reports of the existence of any road map or US involvement in the matter. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage last week said that Washington has "no clear drawn-out strategy for peace in South Asia".

Whatever be the official position, the report states that the US plans to use three strategies to achieve its aim: insist Pakistan prevent infiltration across the LoC; urge Pakistan to move against terrorists and facilitate an Indo-Pakistan dialogue.

The American Embassy in Pakistan is stated to have begun work on the paper in 2001 after the failure of the Agra Summit and completed it a year later. One of America's early targets according to this plan was to end cross-border terrorism in 2002.

Pakistan today remains under pressure on this issue. Another US target was to provide Pakistan's law enforcement authorities with training to arrest extremists, involving the FBI, the CIA and other US agencies in this.

The 2003 US objective, the report states, is: to replace the militant leadership in Kashmir with a political one; to pressurise Pakistan to prosecute "sectarian, religious extremist and Kashmir militant leaders," to push India and Pakistan to "formalise bilateral dialogue" and reduce the forces deployed at the border.

By 2004, the US hopes to get both India and Pakistan to "monitor the LoC", while asking Pakistan to take "measures to prevent Kashmiri groups from openly raising money", 'Gulf News' added.

The plan also stresses the building of ties between Pakistan and India and far greater bilateral cooperation on all issues. It believes the building up of such "confidence" is crucial to the plans success.

ANI