WASHINGTON: The United States is said to be quietly pressing Pakistan and India to reduce their arms expenditure and agree on a ceiling of their respective military strength . Washington is said to have conveyed the impression that unless what it calls the arms race was halted American aid relationship with the two countries might have to be reviewed.

The US believes that a reasonable ratio of Indian and Pakistani armed strength could and should be worked out. What this ratio should be is not mentioned here but according to one US official quoted by the former Washington correspondent of the `Hindustan Times`, Pakistan `was prepared to accept a two to seven ratio`.

This correspondent, who has just returned to New Delhi to take over the Editorship of the `Hindustan Times`, was received by President Johnson, Secretary of State Dean Rusk and other high US officials before his departure from here. His dispatches based on those toplevel briefings reveal the present thinking in high Washington quarters.

Referring to Kashmir, the Indian correspondent got the following impression: `US policymakers seem to have realised the unwisdom [sic] of backing any particular solution to IndoPakistan problems and insist that they have no views of the Kashmir question except that it should be settled amicably.`Correspondent