ISLAMABAD, Aug 25 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - A senior Pakistani Foreign Ministry official on Sunday challenged an assessment by U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage that tensions between Pakistan and India had eased as "optimistic".

Spokesman Aziz Ahmad Khan told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that as long as Indian troops remained in "offensive positions", tensions between the nuclear-armed South Asian nations would remain high.

"It's still a very dangerous situation and only when Indian troops are redeployed to peacetime positions will the danger be over.

"[But] regarding the situation in Kashmir ... we are ready for talks anytime, any place and at any level as we believe the use of force is futile and uncivilized," Khan said.

Armitage left Pakistan for China Sunday, after saying tensions which threatened war between Islamabad and New Delhi had eased.

Speaking to reporters after a lengthy meeting with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf Saturday, Armitage said despite claims and counter-claims over a recent clash between Indian and Pakistani forces in the disputed region of Kashmir, the risk of war had diminished in recent months.

"I think we should take special note of the circumstances now compared to a couple of months ago when I was here. Clearly the rhetoric and tensions are somewhat down at present," he said.

"That is why I was able to engage in discussion on the whole range of our relationship, which of course includes the India-Pakistan situation.

"In that particular situation the United States ... want the best possible future for our friends here in Pakistan and in India, and we are going to [continue to] work to bring that about," he said.

Armitage arrived in Pakistan Saturday following a short visit to New Delhi, where an official said the country's defence minister had told him of five attempts last week by militants to sneak across the Line of Control (LoC), the de facto border dividing the contested Himalayan region into Indian- and Pakistani-controlled zones.

His visit came less than 24 hours after claims by Pakistan Friday that Indian troops suffered heavy casualties after they launched a "totally unprovoked attack" overnight Thursday on a Pakistani army post on the LoC.

India immediately denied there had been any fighting at the Gultari post on the 273-mile (440 kilometer) border and rejected Pakistani claims it had attacked the site with aircraft.

Kashmir's LoC is the scene of almost daily exchanges of fire between troops from both sides and an armed insurgency against New Delhi's rule in Indian-controlled Kashmir has claimed an estimated 36,500 lives since 1989.

The South Asian neighbors have fought two of three wars over the contested territory since they gained independence from Britain in 1947.

Tensions between India and Pakistan rose sharply after an attack on India's parliament complex last December by gunmen New Delhi claims were sponsored by Islamabad and which led to a massive military mobilization by both countries.

Approximately one million troops remain deployed on both sides of their common border; a situation which analysts have suggested has weakened Pakistan's efforts to seal its western border against those fleeing coalition forces in Afghanistan.

But Armitage applauded Pakistan's efforts to seal its border with Afghanistan to fugitives from the Al-Qa’eda network of alleged terror mastermind Osama bin Laden and his Taliban allies.