News
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Pakistan and India unlikely to resolve Kashmir issue soon: US
* Adm Willard says Washington should continue to encourage rivals to negotiate
* Lashkar-e-Tayyaba expanding, no longer solely focused on India or even South Asia
WASHINGTON: India and Pakistan are unlikely to resolve their Kashmir dispute soon given the fragile government in Islamabad, a top US commander said Tuesday. He also voiced concern over the growing reach of a Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Tayyaba.
India has made overtures to work more closely with Pakistan, and the US should continue to encourage the nuclear-armed rivals to negotiate, said Adm Robert Willard, chief of US forces in the Pacific. “But unquestionably there remains a level of tension across the border that is very hard to impact,” he told a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee. “And given the turmoil that has been in Pakistan for the past couple of years, it’s hard to imagine that the fragile governance in Islamabad is going to rise to a level where the impasse can be broken in the near term.”
India and Pakistan recently moved to resume a peace process that stalled after Lashkar-e-Tayyaba launched terror attacks on Mumbai in 2008. Pakistan has outlawed the group, but India maintains Pakistan retains ties to the militants. Willard said the group had declared a jihad on America, although India continues to be its main target. He said the US had evidence of Lashkar’s presence in Europe, the broader Asia-Pacific and even in the past in Canada and the United States. ap
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk