Gandhi, who turned down the premier's post after her party stormed into power in May, flew to the region where Indian soldiers launched a full-scale attack in 1999 to dislodge Pakistan-backed forces occupying Kargil district's strategic peaks.

"The government will take every step to resolve the Kashmir issue through dialogue and reconciliation," Gandhi told Congress party supporters during her maiden trip to the site where more than 1,000 combatants died on both sides five years ago.

The divided region of Kashmir, which is claimed in full by both India and Pakistan, has been the subject of two of the three wars between the estranged South Asian neighbours since their independence in 1947.

Gandhi said a meeting between Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf on the sidelines of UN General Assembly in New York on September 23 "was a step towards establishing peace in the region".

"Wars between the two countries in the past have brought nothing but havoc," said the 57-year-old Gandhi, who holds the post of "convenor" of the communist-backed coalition government in New Delhi.

Premier Singh called his face-to-face talks with Musharraf "historic" while the Pakistani leader has termed the discussions "a major breakthrough".

The 57-year-old widow of slain premier Rajiv Gandhi also spoke with residents of Kargil and said she would follow up with Defence Minister Pranab Mukherji about the rehabilitation of people displaced by the six-week clash in

"You are soldiers without uniforms," she said as residents greeted Gandhi with flowers and welcome arches in the frontier Kashmiri district, which faced cross-border shellings until November when India and Pakistan enforced a ceasefire.

Ties have been on the mend since Hindu nationalist premier Atal Behari Vajpayee offered a "hand of friendship" to Pakistan during a historic visit to Kashmir in April last year.

The two countries, who conducted tit-for-tat nuclear tests in 1998, launched what they labelled a "composite dialogue" in January this year to resolve eight separate bilateral disputes and held foreign ministerial-level talks last month under the new government in New Delhi.

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