US dismiss appointing an envoy to resolve Indo-Pak differences

The Obama Administration has dismissed the idea of appointing a special envoy to resolve the differences between India and Pakistan, but noted that US ambassadors in the two countries are talking to the host governments to encourage further dialogue.
"I think we can encourage them to have dialogue and to resolve the dispute. But we don't have to do that necessarily with an envoy. I think our ambassadors are very engaged on the ground on this," the State Department spokesperson, Marif Harf, said yesterday.
"What that engagement looks like going forward, I don't have a prediction to make for you other than to say, we will continue to encourage both sides to move forward with this dialogue," she said.

"We are concerned about any violence along the Line of Control. We understand that the governments of India and Pakistan are in contact over these issues. We will continue to encourage further dialogue," she said.
"Our ambassadors in both India and Pakistan have raised these recent incidents with their respective host governments and conveyed our hope that India and Pakistan will continue the steps they have recently taken to improve their bilateral relationship," Harf added.
"Our ambassadors in both India and Pakistan have reached out to their respective governments to convey our hope that they will continue to take steps to build trust and to work together. We of course would encourage any dialogue between the two countries going forward," she said.

The US policy on Kashmir has not changed, she said.
"We still believe that the pace, scope, and character of India and Pakistan's dialogue on Kashmir is for those two countries to determine with each other," Harf said.
"We'll engage when we think it's appropriate, as our ambassadors are doing," she added.