US backs direct dialogue between India and Pakistan on issues of concern

The United States on Wednesday stated that it supports a direct dialogue between Indian and Pakistan on issues of concern. Responding to a question during a regular State Department press briefing, official spokesperson Matthew Miller said, "As we have long said, we support direct dialogue between India and Pakistan on issues of concern. That has long been our position."

There has been continued strain in ties between India and Pakistan on a number of issues including Islamabad's continued support to cross-border terrorism and the Kashmir issue. India has been maintaining that it desires normal neighbourly relations with Pakistan while insisting that the onus is on Islamabad to create an environment that is free of terror and hostility for such an engagement. India has also asserted that Jammu and Kashmir "was, is and will" always be part of the country.

The response by Miller on Wednesday came after a question was raised regarding Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s recent statement on willingness to talk with India.

Shehbaz Sharif, on Monday, while addressing the opening ceremony of the Mineral Summit in Islamabad, said that to build the nation they are ready to talk with the neighbours.

“With our neighbours, we are prepared to talk to them, provided that the neighbour is serious to talk on serious matters on the table because war is no more an option. Pakistan is a nuclear power, not as an aggressor but for our defence purposes. We had three wars fought in the last 75 years. And what happened is it generates more poverty, unemployment and lack of resources to finance, education, health and well-being of the people,” Sharif said, as per ANI.

Since August 2019 when India changed the special status of Jammu and Kashmir, bilateral relations between Islamabad and New Delhi have been tense.

On India's ties with Pakistan, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said that it is not possible for India to have normal relations with the neighbouring country until the policy of cross-border terrorism is abrogated.

"We can't allow terrorism to be normalised; we cannot allow that to become the basis for getting us into discussions with Pakistan. To me it is a fairly common sense proposition," he said in June.

(With agencies inputs)

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