The UK's Chief of Defence Staff, General Sir Charles Guthrie, is due in Pakistan for the first high-level contact between the two countries since the military takeover last October.

General Guthrie's visit, during which he is expected to meet Pakistan's military ruler, General Pervez Musharraf, coincides with the arrival in Islamabad of a delegation of senators from the United States.

The UK Foreign Office says his discussions with Pakistan's military rulers will focus on regional security.

Analysts say his visit is intended to persuade General Musharraf to indicate when Pakistan will return to democracy, as well as to encourage better relations between India and Pakistan.

The BBC's World affairs correspondent Nick Childs says the general is well placed to deliver such a message as a military man who knows General Musharraf well.

The US senatorial delegation, drawn from the Democratic party and led by senate minority leader Tom Daschle, is also expected to press for a quick return to democracy.

Arms sales

The UK's Guardian newspaper reported on Wednesday that the British cabinet was split over the issue of arms sales to Pakistan.

Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon and Trade Secretary Stephen Byers reportedly want a freeze lifted on 80 arms exports licences already granted to Pakistan but put on hold after the military takeover.

The paper says both Foreign Secretary Robin Cook and the International Development Secretary Clare Short strongly opposed Mr Byers' and Mr Hoon's moves.

They are said to fear that sending arms to Pakistan would throw into question the government's commitment to an ethical foreign policy.

Writing in The Guardian, Minister of State in the Foreign Office, Peter Hain, said Britain was willing to provide practical help to Islamabad in return for a time-frame for the restoration of democracy.

"It is up to General Musharraf to convince us," Mr Hain said.

"The British Government will respond constructively, provided that he demonstrates that he is a military ruler of the new type, one who plans to give his power away to a new and better democracy," he said.

Mr Hain also wrote that Pakistan should initiate a series of economic and institutional reforms and also refrain from what he called "cross-border terrorism" in Kashmir.

Kashmir is disputed between India and Pakistan, both of which claim the state in its entirety.