UK's FM calls for end to violence

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson called for an end to violence in Kashmir during a visit to Islamabad Thursday, warning tensions between India and Pakistan are holding the region back from becoming an "incredible boomzone".

Johnson, who said he was visiting Pakistan for the first time, spoke a day after at least nine people were killed in Pakistani-held Kashmir when a civilian bus was hit by cross-border fire.

The deadly incident, which came after months of dangerous tensions between the nuclear-armed rivals, saw Pakistani and Indian military officials speak via a special hotline, according to the Pakistani military, which said it reserves "the right to respond".

Johnson warned former colonial power Britain could not act as a mediator in the nearly 70-year-old dispute over the Himalayan region, saying it must be up to India and Pakistan to find a "lasting solution" that allows for Kashmiri self-determination.

He also voiced concern over recent incidents "on both sides" of the de facto Kashmir border, the Line of Control (LoC).

"We call for an end to the violence and for both sides to exercise restraint," he said, framing the issue as a matter of economy as well as security.

The "mutual sequestration" of the Indian and Pakistani economies was holding the region back from fulfilling this potential, he warned.

Tensions in Kashmir reached dangerous levels in September, after India blamed Pakistani militants for a raid on an army base that killed 19 soldiers.