Islamabad: Non-Kashmiri militant groups must stop their interference in the valley, former Pakistani Premier Benazir Bhutto has said, while urging the United States to continue its efforts to prevent a possible war between India and Pakistan.

Local media quoted Bhutto as saying in Washington that she was opposed to non-Kashmiri militant groups taking part in militant activities in the valley.

She said the "United States should continue to work to prevent a war between India and Pakistan", and appealed to all parties in Kashmir, including the Kashmiri militant groups and Indian government, to stop violence.

Contrary to media reports, Bhutto said she had no plans to meet Premier Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali, who is on a visit to Washington for his first-ever meeting with US President George W Bush.

"I don't want it to cost him his job, considering who his boss is," Bhutto told reporters in lighter vein referring to President Pervez Musharraf.

On US-Pakistan relations, the former Premier said one clear goal of Washington was that there should be no war between India and Pakistan.

While the US was working with Musharraf's regime in the war against global terrorism, it should not be forgotten that the democracy sanctions imposed on Pakistan after the 1999 coup had only been waived and not removed.

Bhutto said Washington's backing of Musharraf's government had invited a backlash in Pakistan. "Nobody was happy with it, be it the religious, the moderate or centrist liberal parties."

PTI