UN useful in resolving disputes, suggests US senator

Amid ongoing India-Pakistan tensions along the border, a US senator visiting India has suggested that the UN could be a "useful participant" in resolving disputes.

Senator Timothy M. Kaine also termed as "very troubling" the reports of ongoing firing across the border that has left around seven dead in India so far.

Referring to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon asking India and Pakistan to resolve their issues diplomatically and through dialogue, Kaine said: "I think sometimes the UN can be a useful participant in the discussion. For example ceasefire, the secretary general's comments were appropriate."

He clarified that "the right role or necessity of how deep the UN needs to engage, I haven't thought that through".

"But as a promoter of peaceful resolution of disputes, the UN does a good job and in that sense their participation should be welcomed," Kaine said. He was asked a question about Pakistan taking the issue to the United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP), but he appeared not to comprehend the issue and referred to Ban Ki-Moon's statement requesting both sides to resolve matters through dialogue.

He also termed as "very successful" the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the US, which, he said, helped establish a "good personal rapport" with President Barack Obama which is important to take bilateral relations forward.

Kaine, from Virginia, who is chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Near Eastern and South and Central Asian Affairs, is in India along with Senator Angus King from Maine, a member of the Senate Armed Services and Intelligence Committees.

King said while it is important to ink deals and agreements "but without a good personal chemistry, it is difficult to take relations forward".

He said the Sep 26-30 US visit of Modi, his first after becoming prime minister in May, helped establish a personal equation with Obama.

Kaine mentioned how Obama escorted Modi around the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in Washington Sep 30.

The senators met National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, some members of parliament, as well as leading strategic commentators Wednesday.

They are to leave for Mumbai to pay their respects to victims of the 26/11 terror attack.

To another query, Kaine said that America had broached the subject of the US-led fight against the jihadist Islamic State in Iraq and Syria during talks with Modi.

He said the US appreciated the Indian prime minister terming the IS as a "threat to humanity" and that India "has felt the threat of extremism like the US" but what role India can play is a totally a "domestic decision".