Pak asks Obama to take up Kashmir with India during his visit

Pakistan today asked President Barack Obama to take up the Kashmir issue with India during his visit to the country in November, despite the US making it clear that it will not intervene in the bilateral matter.

"President Obama has always understood the importance of a Kashmir solution. His coming visit to the region is the time to begin to redeem the pledge that he made earlier," Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said in his opening remarks at the plenary session of the third round of the US-Pak Strategic Dialogue here.

Qureshi, who is leading a high-profile Pakistani delegation that among others includes army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, made the remarks on Kashmir, despite the United States ruling out any role for itself on the issue.

The Obama Administration insists that this issue needs to be resolved bilaterally, even though it recognises that Kashmir is an important matter between the two countries.

"Pakistan and the United States have a shared interest, in a peaceful and stable South Asia. Unfortunately, that prospect is threatened again, by the recent events in Kashmir," Qureshi said, with the Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, sitting by his side.