Brussels, 25/06/2002 (Agence Europe) - The parliamentary committee on foreign affairs discussed on Thursday the question of EU mediation in Kashmir. The Ambassador of Pakistan with the EU, Shaukat Umer, regretted India's refusal to "internationalise" the conflict when Europe could bring its experience in democracy to helping reconciliation in the region. Former Indian Ambassador J. N. Dixit replied that his country was ready to accept international technical aid but would continue to refuse "formal mediation" and "any partition of the sub-continent". Vernon Hewitt, Professor at the University of Bristol, stressed the influential role of the Islamic non-Kashmir groups in the conflict, and Jean-Luc Racine (CNRS) the fact that the EU could follow closely behind the United States and propose facilitating discussions between the two parties.