The unscheduled meeting, which began, immediately after the arrival of Prime Minister Sharif, was on till late in the night. Sharif is accompanied by his foreign minister Sartaj Aziz and foreign secretary Shamshad Ahmad.

The fact that the President agreed to see Prime Minister Sharif on one of America's biggest holidays the July 4 Independence Day and a Sunday - shows the urgency of the situation and the importance that President Clinton attaches to his efforts to resolve the crisis which has evoked a world-wide concern.

A White House statement last night made it clear that Prime Minister Sharif had asked for the meeting and President Clinton accepted his ``request to discuss how to resolve the immediate situation.''

The White House, however, made it clear that Clinton had nointention to mediate in the crisis, reiterating the known US Policy that the two countries should resolve the 50-year-old dispute directly without any third party intervention.

``As part of the president's on-going efforts regarding the current conflict in Kashmir,'' the White House statement said, the President spoke again yesterday with both Prime Minister Sharif and Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee. ``All agreed the situation is dangerous and could escalate if not resolved quickly,'' it added.

White House Spokesman P J Crowley said Sharif had requested the meeting and ``I would assume he's bringing some ideas on how to resolve the current situation.'' he, however, did not give details of any such proposal.

Pakistani daily, Dawn, however, reported from Washington, quoting ``diplomatic sources'' that Sharif might announce pulling back of Pakistani-supported forces from Kargil-the advice he had repeatedly received from the United States and other countries in recent day.

Crowley also explained that``the United States does not plan to mediate in this crisis, we believe this has to be resolved through bilateral dialogue.''