In a major diplomatic embarrassment to India, the maverick Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has supported the idea of an independent state for Kashmir and said that it should be a Baathist state between India and Pakistan.

"Kashmir should be an independent state, not Indian, not Pakistani. We should end this conflict. It should be a Baathist state between India and Pakistan," the Libyan leader said in his address to the UN General Assembly on Wednesday.