January 20, 2003	Monday	Ziqa'ad 16, 1423

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NEW DELHI, Jan 19: The United States was pushing President Pervez Musharraf to halt the flow of guerillas into Indian-held Kashmir, US ambassador to India Robert Blackwill said in remarks released on Sunday.

Blackwill said hope of easing the conflict in the Himalayan region “continues to be narrowed by terrible acts of terrorist violence in Jammu and Kashmir.”

“The United States will continue to urge President Musharraf to do everything in his power to end permanently terrorist infiltration into Jammu and Kashmir,” Blackwill told a gathering on Saturday of Indians in San Jose, the heart of the US hi-tech industry.

“The Line of Control,” the de facto border dividing Kashmir between India and Pakistan, “cannot be changed by violence,” Blackwill said.

“To the contrary, in the absence of a jointly agreed Indo-Pakistan alternative, everyone should act to ensure the continued sanctity of the Line of Control,” said the ambassador, according to a transcript released by the embassy here.—AFP