Washington, February 25: The US favours the resumption of “direct talks” between India and Pakistan and “encourages” them to proceed with the dialogue as it is in their mutual interest, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said.
Hours before the Foreign Secretaries of India and Pakistan held talks in New Delhi, their first meeting since the Mumbai attacks, Clinton told lawmakers that the Obama Administration is in favour of resumption of direct Indo-Pak talks “which were suspended when (then Pakistan) President (Pervez) Musharraf, left office.”
“With respect to India and Pakistan, we have encouraged the resumption of the direct talks,” she said appearing before a Congressional panel.
“Those talks between President Musharraf and Prime
Minister Singh had actually been quite productive, particularly in producing results on the ground in Kashmir,” Clinton said in response to a question on Indo-Pak relations.
–Agencies