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Published 01 Aug, 2003 12:00am

Washington reiterates help for normality

WASHINGTON, July 31: The United States on Wednesday avoided commenting on the Indian move to build fences along the Line of Control but repeated its offer to help India and Pakistan tackle this and other difficult problems.

Asked to comment on a report that India was building fences in Kashmir, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said the administration was “looking forward” to what it could do to help India and Pakistan “resolve these problems.”

The United States, he said, wanted to help the two neighbours to “move to a point where they can deal more specifically with some of these issues.”

The US offer, he said, was “part of an effort” to get India and Pakistan “improve their relationship.”

Asked if the United States would support the deployment of UN observers along the LoC, Mr Boucher said: “The United States has supported UN Security Council resolution on this subject in the past, but the US position and the US activity and the US effort has been, first, to work with both India and Pakistan to develop our own relationships with them. “So, on that basis, we have also been looking to see what we could do to help them. That’s where we’ve put our effort into, and that’s where we continue to put our effort.”

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