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NEW DELHI/ISLAMABAD, Sunday (Reuters)

Hopes rose on Sunday for an easing of tension between nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan after a senior U.S. peace envoy said he expected India to take steps to cool the conflict in the next few days.

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage said among those steps was a possible return of some Indian diplomats to Islamabad and an easing of the military tension as well.

Reinforcing the U.S. push to defuse the crisis between the hostile neighbours, U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is due to visit the region this week.

In Washington, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell called Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and Indian External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh on Saturday to urge them to help reduce tension.

India said it welcomed a Pakistani pledge to stop rebel infiltration.

But Armitage cautioned that the crisis over the disputed Kashmir region was not over yet.

"When you have close to a million men glaring, shouting and occasionally shooting across a territory that is a matter of some dispute, then I think you couldn't say the crisis is over, but I think you can say that the tensions are down measurably," Armitage told reporters.

He was in Estonia - after holding talks in Pakistan and India - to brief Rumsfeld.

Underscoring the crisis was still far from over, Pakistan said on Saturday it shot down an unmanned Indian spy plane and at least 13 people were killed in fighting along the frontier.

India said infiltrators into Indian Kashmir had triggered an intense exchange of fire in which three Indian soldiers and three Muslim rebels were killed. It said a reconnaissance plane went missing after a routine flight but gave no other details.

Armitage said Indian officials made positive comments during his meetings.

"It is quite clear that there will be some actions on the part of India responding to the messages I brought from Islamabad and so I think quite clearly, at least temporarily, the tensions are down," Armitage said.

"I understand they are talking about some diplomatic actions which could include the return of some people to diplomatic postings in Islamabad, and some ratcheting down of some sort of military tension."

Armitage said India planned to make "some military gestures as well" to ease tensions before Rumsfeld arrives, but gave no details: "I got the very strong impression that they were inclined to respond to the international community, who was basically calling for restraint and a lowering of the tensions."

Pakistan's Musharraf made it clear that he would do everything in his power to avoid war, Armitage said.

India and Pakistan have stepped up preparations for war even as governments around the globe feverishly seek to cool tempers but, in another sign tension might be easing, India welcomed a pledge by Pakistan to stop infiltration by Kashmiri rebels.

Describing Powell's call to Singh, the Indian government said in a statement: "Mr Jaswant Singh informed Mr Colin Powell that India welcomes the pledge that President Pervez Musharraf has given to...Armitage about immediately and permanently ending cross-border infiltration of terrorists into Jammu and Kashmir."

Musharraf told Powell that Pakistan was "against war, and remained committed to peace and stability", the Pakistan state news agency said, but he complained that the Indian leadership had declined Pakistan's offers for a resumption of peace talks.

Armitage told India on Friday that Pakistan was committed to taking permanent action against the militants and India said it would monitor the implementation of the pledge, responding "appropriately and positively".

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