NEW DELHI, India — With tensions easing slightly between India and Pakistan, U.S. Secretary of State Colin L. Powell said Friday that the two nuclear powers appear to be heading toward a peaceful resolution of their dangerous military standoff over Kashmir.
After talks here with Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, Powell said he was leaving India "very encouraged that we can find a solution to this troubling situation."
India accuses Pakistan-based Kashmiri separatists of launching a brazen raid on its Parliament last month that killed 14 people, including the five gunmen. Powell said Friday that he supports India's demand for further action from Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf against terrorism.
Powell urged patience as hundreds of thousands of soldiers face off on the front lines.
A bomb blast that killed at least one and injured about 10 Thursday night in Jammu, the winter capital of the disputed Indian state Jammu and Kashmir, was a terrorist attack, Indian Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh said. But India's official response to it was muted, and its military says that clashes with Pakistani troops are decreasing along the 1972 cease-fire line known as the Line of Control, which divides the region between India and Pakistan.
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