"I have asked both the leaders of India and Pakistan to resolve it (Kashmir). India and Pakistan are two important countries of the region and in a few years would be powerful countries as well," he said here when asked what his country was doing to resolve it.

"I think it is with the leadership of the two countries to deal with this issue. This issue is very important for both the countries, and we can't interfere, we should help in a partnership of India and Pakistan," Blair said in an interview to Geo TV.

"I have tried to do anything I can to help this situation in the past. In the end it is going to be resolved by India and Pakistan. There was a hopeful side," he said.

"I ask them to resolve this issue then concentrate on the things which will determine their future, like economic development and regional security." Blair, who came on a two-day visit to Pakistan during the weekend which included talks with President Pervez Musharraf [Images] in Lahore [Images] on Monday, reminded the journalist who interviewed him that the fact that he has asked the question on Kashmir towards the end of the interview also reflected a "hopeful side".

Blair said his visit to Pakistan was aimed at decent relationship between London [Images] and Islamabad and provide support to Pakistan in the health, education and development sectors.

"A few years back, I couldn't think of coming here and finding Pakistan in such a good position," Blair said.

On whether sending British troops to Afghanistan was a mistake, he said, "There are many parts of Afghanistan which are stabilising, but there are many changes in the country in terms of economy and in terms of democracy there are presidential elections and girls are allowed to go to schools and many of the schools have started to rebuild and there are new health centres.

"So there is a lot of change but of course there are the Taliban and the extremist groups will fight hard because they used to have power which they don't have now.

We should stay to help Afghans and they should have their own security in place so that they can work out their own future so that they can elect their president," he said.

On Osama bin Laden and Mulla Omar still being at large, the British Prime Minister said, "I know there are many attempts to seek them out, but I think it is more important that we stay with the people in Afghanistan and help them achieve what they voted for."

The United Nations has supervised the democratic process, and the reason why British forces and the forces of 25-30 countries are in the southern part of Afghanistan, they are there to help the government, he said.

"Of course, we continue to seek out Osama bin Laden and Mulla Omar but the important thing is to support the reconstruction, political development and economy and particularly this situation in southern part where the Taliban are fighting back," he said.

He dismissed reports that British troops would leave Afghanistan in 10 years. None of these reports is correct. Discounting the theory of clash of civilisations, Blair said, "We are not heading towards a clash of civilisations. A majority of Muslims believe in democracy, tolerance and people of different faiths living together."

Asked about his stand on the veil he said, "I have talked about it before because in the end people go for their personal choices that whether they wear veils... It's an immensely difficult subject."

Blair said the decision on death penalty for former Iraq President Saddam Hussein would be decided by Iraqis themselves. "It is the decision that the Iraqi authorities will take, but as I said earlier we are against the death penalty in whatever context."

On the "homegrown" terrorism in Britain, Blair said, "I think this ideology of extremism is exported all around the world. UK is not the only country with home grown terrorism. There are some other countries in Europe, too, which are having the same problems.

"The answer is to create strong support for moderate and tolerant principles within the community to root out extremism, and to mobilise the moderate majorities of the Muslim from the UK and Pakistan to defeat this thing."