US wants resumption of Indo-Pak talks: Clinton to Cong panel

I / Washington February 25, 2010, 10:24 IST

As the foreign secretaries of India and Pakistan are scheduled to meet in New Delhi today, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said the Obama administration favours resumption of direct talks between the two neighbours.

"With respect to India and Pakistan, we have encouraged the resumption of direct talks, which were suspended when President Pervez Musharraf left office," Clinton told a Congressional panel yesterday.

In reply to a question from Senator Greg on Indo-Pak relations, she said "...Talks between President Musharraf and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had actually been quite productive particularly in producing results on the ground in Kashmir. But they have been in abeyance now for... Slightly more than two years."

Clinton said that the countries were going to hold talks, and the US was sensitive to the concerns that the both countries have.

"We continue to raise it (resumption of talks) and make the case to each separately as to why it is in their mutual interest to proceed," she said.