October 9, 2002	Wednesday	Sha’aban 2, 1423

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WASHINGTON, Oct 8: The United States will resume diplomatic work to encourage dialogue between Islamabad and New Delhi after this week’s elections in Pakistan, US Secretary of State Colin Powell said on Tuesday.

Powell, speaking to international news agencies, played down the significance of Tuesday’s missile test by Pakistan, saying it was part of a known development programme and did not launch a new arms race.

Powell said: “For the last several weeks, we’ve essentially been watching the elections unfold — the Kashmir elections and now the Pakistani elections.”

“With these elections behind us, then I hope we can make an assessment of where we are and we’ll be engaging again with the two sides to see if we can find some new avenues to move forward,” he added.

The aim of the US diplomatic effort would be to end “infiltrations” across the Line of Control and to open dialogue between Delhi and Islamabad, he said.—Reuters