WASHINGTON, May 1: The United States on Thursday described a report that it had set a deadline for India and Pakistan to resolve the Kashmir dispute as “absolutely not true.”

The report, published in a section of the press and later distributed around the world by an Indian news agency, caused quite an interest in Washington where reporters started calling the White House, the State Department and the Pentagon to see if it was true.

It was based on a conversation between Gen (retired) Jay Garner, the US administrator in charge of the reconstruction of Iraq, and a Pakistani citizen who visited Mr Garner in Kuwait recently.

“We checked with Mr Garner and he said he hasn’t said anything about Kashmir,” said a State Department official.

“How could you set a deadline for resolving a 56-year-old issue,” said another US official when asked for comments.