News
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
US lauds Indo-Pak commitment to talks* Assistant Secretary of State Philip J Crowley says Washington supports efforts to improve Indo-Pak relations
WASHINGTON: The US has called the commitment to dialogue by Pakistan and India a step in the right direction and reaffirmed its support for efforts towards improvement in relations between the two neighbours.
“I think you left out the punch line that there was a pledge, notwithstanding a trust deficit, to work very earnestly to improve relations between Pakistan and India. And we, the United States, certainly support that,” Assistant Secretary of State Philip J Crowley said.
He was responding to a reporter’s question who insisted on the trust deficit existing between New Delhi and Islamabad in the light of the Indian prime minister’s statement who suggested that trust gap between the two regional powers was holding back improvement in their bilateral relations.
Asked as to how the trust deficit could be erased completely, the State Department spokesman advised patience and persistence with dialogue.
“As we have said many times, it will take time to overcome that, but certainly, mutual commitment to high-level dialogue is a step in the right direction,” Crowley stated.
In answer to a question on the reported China-Pakistan on building a nuclear power plant, Crowley hinted that Washington was not keen to raise the issue in the ongoing US-China strategic dialogue.
“I don’t know if this will come up during the secretary’s meetings within China this week,” he told an Indian reporter.
Crowley noted the long history of Sino-Pak cooperation agreement in the field and said the US was talking broadly to Beijing about implications of the deal.
“We are talking to China more broadly about the implications of this deal. It has a lengthy history to it. But we will seek to make sure that should this deal go forward, it is in compliance with the rules of the Nuclear Suppliers Group.” app
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk