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Indian Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani called on Paris Thursday to stop military aid to Pakistan and other countries that support "terrorism," while on a visit to France to discuss a major arms purchase.

France and the international community should "cease military aid (via arms sales) to countries like Pakistan which support terrorism," Advani said according to an Indian government source.

His remarks came during meetings with French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin and Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie, in which the fight against terrorism figured high on the agenda.

"I expressed the Indian position regarding (international) terrorism and cross-border terrorism and our vision of the means which the international community could put into place to fight them," Advani said after talks with the French prime minister.

Cross-border terrorism is a euphemism frequently used by India for attacks in Indian-administered Kashmir, in the 14th year of a bloody insurgency. New Delhi accuses Islamabad of financial and logistical support for militants waging such attacks, but Pakistan says it offers only moral backing.

The hawkish Advani, who also holds the portfolio of interior minister, was on a two-day visit to France, aimed at finalizing a two billion euro (2.15 billion dollar) defense deal which would see six French-designed Scorpene submarines being built in Mumbai (formerly Bombay) if New Delhi gives the green light next month.

India is also mulling the possible purchase of 136 Mirage-2000 warplanes for the Indian air force.

Raffarin said he "listened carefully and with a lot of understanding to (Advani's) words on regional and global terrorism".

On Friday, Advani was to meet with French Justice Minister Dominique Perben to sign a bilateral extradition treaty presented as an important tool in fighting global terrorism.

Raffarin, who is to travel to India February 6-7 to launch a two-month series of economic and cultural events to promote bilateral ties, said the issues discussed in Paris would resurface during his trip to New Delhi.

Advani is in Paris amid simmering tensions between India and Pakistan, nuclear rivals which have fought three wars in the past, two of them over the disputed Kashmir region.

Tensions between the two arch-foes have also risen in recent days, with the tit-for-tat expulsion of four diplomats from each side Wednesday and Thursday for "activities incompatible with their diplomatic status" -- a euphemism for spying.

Staff in each country's respective high commissions (embassies) in the two capital cities has been cut in half since a December 2001 attack on the Indian parliament that New Delhi claimed was sponsored by Islamabad.

France has worked with Pakistan to build Agosta submarines, but the cooperation was suspended after 11 French engineers for the project were killed in a May 2002 suicide bomb attack in Karachi.

India, the world's most populous country after China, aspires to become a major power and is seeking a permanent seat at the UN Security Council.

France and India announced a strategic partnership after President Jacques Chirac's visit to New Delhi in January 1998. 

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