Washington, June 4: The United States will work with India and Pakistan to verify whether cross-border incursions into Jammu and Kashmir have stopped and expects New Delhi to reciprocate if Islamabad takes steps to de-escalate the tense situation, a US official has said. "(Pakistan) President Pervez Musharraf has said and has pledged that Pakistani territory will not be used for terrorist acts. He has pledged to take steps to ensure that incursions do not happen and that Pakistani territory is not used for terrorist acts or used to originate terrorist acts," Sean McCormack, Assistant Press Secretary for Foreign Affairs, National Security Council, told reporters here on Monday.
"In terms of verifying that incursons have stopped, we will certainly work with the Pakistani government and the Indian Government to determine that these incursions have in fact stopped, which is very important."
"But it is also important that if there are steps taken on the Pakistani side to de-escalate the situation, that those steps be reciprocated on the Indian side. That is what we are working very closely with the parties right now on," he said."
Terming the current standoff between the two south Asian nations as "very serious", McCormack said "the first step that we are working on is to try to de-escalate the situation."
US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage are scheduled to visit New Delhi and Islamabad this week. Bureau Report