US opposed to escalation in Pak-India tension

State Department says both countries need
to discuss and resolve the issues

WASHINGTON: The US on Thursday said it did not want to see an escalation of tension between Pakistan and India after both countries decided to expel each other’s diplomats on charges of espionage.

In a briefing here, State Department Spokesman John Kirby refused to comment on the two countries’ decisions to expel diplomats, saying these were sovereign decisions that states made and that the US was going to leave these issues to India and Pakistan to work out.

“Well obviously we don’t want to see that happen,” he said when a questioner said such actions in the past were followed by firing across the LoC and international border. Kirby said the United States believed that these were the issues that India and Pakistan need to discuss and work out between themselves.

The US has shown concern over the strained relations between India and Pakistan before, and asked the two countries to resolve issues through dialogue.  In the last few weeks, the State Department repeatedly declared that it had been closely monitoring the situation.  It has also warned the two countries not to take steps that escalate the situation, and asked Indian and Pakistani militaries to continue communication to reduce the tensions.  

In early October, believing that terrorism in the region could be rooted out through mutual cooperation, John Kirby told reporters: "We have repeatedly expressed our concerns regarding the danger that terrorism poses to the region. And we all know that terrorism, in many ways, knows no border." 

Giving out the US position on the Pakistan-India border tensions, he had said: "Our message to both sides has been the same, in terms of encouraging them to increase communication to deal with this threat and to avoid steps that escalate the tension." 

"What we want to see is increased cooperation against what is a very shared common threat for both countries, and to see steps being taken to deal with it by all sides."