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Indo-Pak situation still tense: US

United States President George W Bush is pleased with the efforts carried out by both India and Pakistan to defuse the border tension but the situation still remains tense, White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer said.

"President continues to be encouraged by what he hears. He is pleased with the steps that have been taken so far," he said.

Fleischer said in terms of de-escalation, the president urges all parties to continue the steps they have taken to defuse the crisis in the region.

"But, as I indicated yesterday, this is going to remain a region that is going to occupy this administration, that it remains tense and there are still longstanding disputes that have not gone away," he said.

Asked about Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's remarks about Al Qaeda militants operating in Kashmir, he said, "Rumsfeld spoke in a rather generalised and vague sense about what we may or may not know."

He pointed out that Rumsfeld said there is no hard evidence that they are there; 'they may be there, we can't rule it out'.

"But he said he doesn't have any actionable information, any intelligence information of a hard type. And he talked about scraps of information. So I think you have to be careful (in interpreting what Rumsfeld said and its implications)," he said.

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