WASHINGTON. Apr 3: Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott heads to India and Pakistan this week to cool smouldering tensions between Washington and South Asia over military and diplomatic matters, reports AFP.

It will be Talbott's first trip abroad as Deputy Secretary and is intended to show that the administration of President BUI Clinton has a keen Interest in India.- the wqylds biggest democracy and a burgeoning economy.

Talbott plans to spend two ■ days In each country, arriving' In New Delhi on Wednesday and Islamabad on Friday. He will then travel to Brussels. Poland and Slovakia.

Talbott wUl need deft diplomacy to quell India's ire over US plans to deliver 38 F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan and its indig-■ nation over Washington’s slug-

gishness is naming an amtias-sador to such a key post.

Respected career diplomat and Undersecretary of Defence for policy Frank Wisner has reportedly been Upped as the next Ambassador to India and the White House is preparing to announce it. a State Department official said.

India has strongly objected to the Clinton administration waiving its US policy barring weapons to be sold to Pakistan while it is suspected of developing nuclear weapons.

To ease India's anxiety. Washington will insist that Islamabad agree to a verifiable ckp orTthe production of nuclear weapons materials before It gets the Jets, said a State Department official who asked not to be identified.

India worries the sale of advanced fighters to its historic rival will change the region's

power equation, and It wants - any kind of regional nuclear agreements to Include China.

Both India and Pakistan are suspected of developing .nuclear weapons and have refused to sign the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty

It is hoped the caps will "go a long way in improving the nuclear situation in South Asia," said the official. "We’re talking to the Indians about It. We hope they see this as a step forward."

India has.a two-to-one air superiority over Pakistan and the delivery of the F-16 fighter Jets, which-Islamabad ordered five years ago and has since been making payments on, would not erode India's supremacy, the official said.

India and Pakistan have fought three wars since independence from Britain in 1947, two of them over Kashmir.

Nearly 9.000 people, includ-

ing some 3.800 suspected militants. have died in Kashmir, India's only Muslim-majority state, since Muslim militants launched a campaign for an end to Indian rule In 1989.

Washington has not changed its position on Kashmir, the State Department official insisted. despite reports that Washington had leaned on Pakistan for supporting terrorists In Kashmiri and questioned India's sovereignty there.

The United States considers Kashmir to be disputed territory and will not press any solution, the official said, adding that India and Pakistan must bilaterally resolve the conflict.

But any solution, the official said, "has to. in some way. take into account the wishes of the Kashmir people.”

foreign Investment and trade will also figure prominently on Talbott's agenda.