July 11, 2008	Friday	Rajab 7, 1429

WASHINGTON, July 10: The United States urged India and Pakistan on Thursday to use diplomatic channels to resolve bilateral disputes.

The advice follows an exchange of fire between Indian and Pakistani troops across the Line of Control in Kashmir earlier on Thursday. Pakistan blamed Indian troops for initiating the exchange by firing two mortars and a burst of small arms at Pakistani troops at a forward position. Pakistan returned the fire.

“We are probing the incident,” said a State Department official when asked to comment on the encounter. “So far we have no information to determine what happened.”

The official, however, urged India and Pakistan to “use their own diplomatic channels” to resolve such disputes.

The US official noted that while Indo-Pakistan relations have improved dramatically since 2002 “a lot needs to be done to normalise the relationship”.

Relations between the two countries, he noted, have had “a pattern of ups and downs.”