India, Pakistan trade fire near Kashmir

NEW DELHI, May 24 (UPI) -- Pakistani forces said their Indian counterparts fired on their positions in Kashmir, killing one Pakistani soldier in the melee.

The Pakistani army in a weekend statement said "intermittent firing is continuing in the sector" near the area of Kashmir, Pakistan's News International newspaper reports. Indian forces said they were fired on first, while Pakistani officials said the Indian military used "unprovoked" fire.

Meanwhile, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said there was a trust deficit growing between the two nuclear-armed foes.

"India cannot realize its full development potential unless we have the best possible relations with our neighbors, and Pakistan happens to be the largest neighbor of ours," the BBC quoted the prime minister as saying. "The trust gap is the biggest problem."

Strained ties between Pakistan and India were stressed further by attacks on Mumbai in 2008 linked to Pakistani militants.

Singh met his Pakistani counterpart Yusuf Reza Gilani in April on the sidelines of a South Asian summit in Bhutan, signaling stalled diplomatic talks could move toward normalization.

Singh told delegates in a press conference in New Delhi that peace talks could develop further during negotiations set for July.