WASHINGTON: Press Secretary of the White House, Josh Earnest, asked India and Pakistan to peacefully resolve their “deeply held differences” on a range of issues, and said that Washington had an important relationship with Islamabad on security issues. “We have encouraged India and Pakistan to look for ways to resolve peacefully their deeply held differences on a range of issues,” the spokesman said at a briefing at the White House Tuesday. Replying to a question, spokesman Earnest said that a significant threat existed in Pakistan from extremists and Pakistani people had been victims of those extremist activities on far too many occasions.
He said the United States and Pakistan had an important relationship when it came to shared security concerns in the region, “particularly when those concerns emanate from extremist groups.” The US State Department has also in recent days expressed concern over the prevailing tension between Pakistan and India amid frequent incidents of border firing. The United Nations has also expressed concern on the tension.
A State Department spokesman said last week that both Pakistan and India need to adopt a more conciliatory approach and resolve their contentious issues in the larger interest of regional peace. US lawmakers have also recently warned against escalation between the two nuclear armed states. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif also recently sent his special envoys to the United States to share with the government officials, think-tanks and public at large the ongoing gross human rights violations perpetrated by India in the held Kashmir.
Senator Mushahid Hussain and Dr Shezra Mansab Ali, MNA, also met President of UN General Assembly Peter Thomson last week and handed over a dossier about human rights violations in the Indian-held Kashmir. Senator Mushahid Hussain told Mr Thomson that India had stoked war hysteria to distract world attention from its brutal action to suppress the legitimate demand of the Kashmiri people for self-determination. He stressed that the ongoing movement was indigenous and was sparked by the extra-judicial killing of youth leader and icon, Burhan Wani in July.
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