We want Indo-Pak talks on Kashmir: Hillary

[Naveed Yaseen]

WASHINGTON: The United States is encouraging Pakistan and India to enter into dialogue to address Kashmir and other outstanding disputes but any solution must come from the two countries, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said.

Talking to BBC, she said that it was high time that the two neighbours resumed dialogue. The top US diplomat noted that before the dialogue came to a halt last year, in the wake of Mumbai attacks, the two sides had made progress towards sorting out some of the difficulties, particularly “the status of Kashmir”.

“Well, we have encouraged both countries to resume dialogue that they were engaged in which came to a halt and yet holds a lot of promise. They had made progress, I am told, in sorting through some of the longstanding difficulties they face, and most particularly the ‘status of Kashmir’,” she said.

“But it’s clear that any solution has to come from the two countries themselves,” Clinton added when asked if the US was looking at tackling the decades-old Kashmir problem to help Pakistan focus more effectively on fighting terrorists.

“We are encouraging them to get back into dialogue. We think that is important,” she said. app

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp...2009_pg1_5