ISLAMABAD: The United States said on Wednesday it was in favor of direct dialogue between Pakistan and India after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif informed earlier this week that his country was willing to talk to its “neighbor.”
Addressing a mineral development conference in Islamabad on Tuesday, Sharif pointed out that war was not an option between the two nuclear-armed states, adding that Pakistan was ready to talk if its next-door neighbor was also serious about it.
Pakistan and India have fought several wars since securing independence from British rule in 1947.
Islamabad downgraded its diplomatic relations with India in August 2019 after New Delhi revoked the special constitutional status of the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, which is also claimed by Pakistan, to integrate it with the rest of the country.
“We support direct dialogue between India and Pakistan on issues of concern,” the US State Department spokesperson, Matthew Miller, said during a media briefing. “That has long been our position.”
Washington has played a vital role in defusing political and diplomatic crises between the two South Asian neighbors in the past.
While Pakistan has frequently sought American mediation to resolve outstanding issues with India, New Delhi has insisted on dealing with all problems within a bilateral framework for decades.
The Pakistani prime minister said in his speech the wars between the two South Asian countries had only led to greater poverty in the region while seeking “economic competition” with India, instead, for the betterment of people.
