The statement is an embarrassment of sorts for Pakistan, which has been lobbying for third-party mediation on Kashmir. Only last week in his meeting with US President Bill Clinton, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had called for American intervention.

Though the statement does not mention Sharif's Washington trip, there appeared to be no other immediate provocation for the Hizbul remark. The statement does not even mention that mediation by a country other than America was welcome.

Washington's response to Sharif's request was lukewarm. And in the Rajya Sabha, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee had reiterated India's known position that it would not accept intervention from any other country. The Kashmir issue had to be solved under the provision of the Indo-Pakistan Simlaagreement.

The militant outfit said American mediation would not be accepted ``at any cost,'' and charged America of being an ``open enemy'' of the Muslims. Again, it does not specifically mention the US missile attacks on militant camps run in Afghanistan by Osama bin Laden and other American action on militant Islamic outfits.

But this is seen as a possible reason for the harsh anti-American stance adopted by the Hizbul. Afghanistan does, however, figure obliquely in the statement when it mentions the defeat of a ``power like Russia'' at the hands of the `Mujahideen.'

The statement from the ``command council'' of the Hizbul also threatened to take the outfit's war against India outside Jammu and Kashmir. It said that soon Hizbul Mujahideen would move towards Delhi.

The release said the militant group -- which has of late seen some factional fights -- has spread itself all over the state. There is no part of Jammu and Kashmir where the Hizbul militants are not present, the statement claimed andpromised the `disintegration' of India.

The militants also claimed they had brought in ``15,000 missiles'' into the Valley.

While the message against American mediation surprised observers here, the operative part of the statement was a call for a `hartal' in the Valley. As in similar calls earlier, the militants' directive was largely obeyed: The shops remained closed.

But Srinagar markets did not bear a deserted look with pavement sellers still carrying out their business and public transport running as usual.