Pakistan urges US to mediate on Kashmir

The US can defuse the tension between New Delhi and Islamabad over the Kashmir issue as Washington has good relations with both the countries, Pakistan's envoy to the UN Maleeha Lodhi has said.

"Somebody needs to play this role and we think the US is in the best position to do that," the envoy said on Sunday.

However she also said that such a role required a more balanced policy on part of the US.

The situation in Kashmir -- the long-standing dispute between Pakistan and India -- is once again inflamed, she explained and said that such an environment possessed threat to regional peace and security.

She said the US could avert any kind of crisis in the region. "So I am not suggesting that's about to happen but I am saying before the next crisis happens this is a role of leadership that the US can play."

"Pakistan has felt that the US lacked balance in its approach to South Asia, and as a result we lost something in the relationship," the envoy said.

According to her, the nuclear deal that the Bush administration concluded with India was a discriminatory policy towards the South Asian region and had consequences for it.

"The people of Kashmir have waited for 70 years to see justice done to their cause, to see Security Council resolutions being implemented, so we do believe that the answer to the instability in our region, which is caused by primarily and principally the dispute over Kashmir, should be resolved."

She believed that there was a need for dialogue between the two sides to resolve the ongoing tension.

--IANS

py/vm