Washington/Islamabad: The United States of America today said that India and Pakistan need to pursue closer relationship with each other on the security front.
"We need to pursue closer relations with India, with Pakistan, and they need to also pursue closer relations on the security front, certainly, with each other," State Department Deputy Spokesman, Mark Toner, said.
"That's to the benefit of all of us, to be frank, and that includes Afghanistan as well, because there continue to be serious terrorist threats," he said in response to a question on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's remarks on terrorism during his address to the joint session of the Congress this week.
Ties between India and Pakistan have been on a downswing after the Pathankot attack in which seven soldiers and four Pakistani terrorists were killed.
India and Pakistan had agreed to resume the comprehensive dialogue after meetings between PM Modi and his counterpart Nawaz Sharif and between the national security advisers. But the Pathankot attack has led to a deadlock on talks between both the countries.
India has sought strong and effective action against the JeM, while Pakistan says that it wants the dialogue process to continue.
Toner further said that he agrees with Indian PM’s views on terrorism. "And I do agree with him; there's no justification for terrorism, and we all need to work in a concerted and coordinated fashion to address it, and we're trying to do so."
Pakistan says 'talks' ball in Indian court
Meanwhile, Pakistani Premier’s Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz has once again accused India of presuming Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) chief Masood Azhar’s guilt by seeking a ban on him.
“We follow a principled position on this. The Security Council’s system is meant for Al-Qaeda and related organisations, but India is trying to use the forum to point fingers at Pakistan vis-a-vis terrorist groups and individuals,” Aziz said, when asked why Pakistan took China’s help to block the move.
“India alleges that the terrorist groups and individuals are sponsored by our intelligence investigation agencies, and that the Indian government is presuming Masood Azhar’s guilt. You mentioned agencies in the resolution. India’s National Investigation Agency has also said Pakistan’s agencies are not involved in Pathankot,” Aziz added.
He said that resumption of dialogue is only the solution between the two sides and will also provide the opportunity to discuss all issues so that PM Modi’s visit to participate in the SAARC summit in November can provide the basis for further talks.
Modi and Sharif continue to stay in touch and also spoke to each other over the phone but the two countries have made little headway in having a structured dialogue.
Aziz also said that friendly relations with all neighbours remain his government’s top priority but there are obstacles.
“The lack of trust is the most obvious obstacle and the only way forward in overcoming the trust deficit is dialogue,” he said, adding that “using the issue of terrorism as an excuse for not negotiating cannot be justified.”
India is not right in blaming us for not doing enough, he said.
“It is for India to decide whether they want to break the logjam or not. We don’t deny the need for a discussion on terrorism and it is one of the eight topics under the comprehensive dialogue,” he adeed.
Foreign secretaries of the two nations were scheduled to resume talks in mid-January, but the meeting was postponed after the Pathankot attack.
