US backs India-Pakistan dialogue to counter terrorism

October 13th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - India and Pakistan must work together to counter terrorism, Pakistani foreign office spokesman said here Tuesday. India must stop blame game as time has come to solve all outstanding issues with tranquility, the Online news agency quoted foreign office spokesman Abdul Basit as saying.

September 19th, 2009 LONDON - Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has said that terrorist and militants were deliberately created to achieve certain strategic goals and to counter rival ideology. "Militants and militancy were not created in a vacuum; they have been the product of a deliberate policy to fight the rival ideology," Zardari said.

September 17th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has reiterated that Islamabad is ready to cooperate with New Delhi to bring the Mumbai attack perpetrators to justice. In an interview with a British daily, Zardari said Pakistan would not allow its soil to be used against India.

August 15th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Pakistan will have to take action against Mumbai attackers and ensure its territory is not used for terrorism against India if it wanted to resume stalled talks with New Delhi, the new US pointsman for South Asia, Robert Blake, has said. "The first part of that sequencing (resumption of India-Pakistan dialogue) will be for Pakistan to take action against these five Mumbai suspects, to prosecute them," said Blake, who is assistant secretary of state for South Asian affairs.

July 30th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Strongly backing Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's declaration that there was no dilution of the national consensus on countering terrorism emanating from Pakistan, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi Thursday said India's foreign policy with respect to its neighbour had not changed. No one should be in any doubt on our party's position vis--vis Pakistan.

July 28th, 2009 ABOHAR - India has time and again stated that Pakistan should stop allow its territory to be used by terrorists against India, before any serious dialogue could commence. Radio Pakistan seems to be worried that forces in Pakistan would continue their terrorist acts, and the possibility of an India-Pakistan dialogue would recede.

July 17th, 2009 NEW DELHI - India's main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) staged a walkout in the Lok Sabha Friday, alleging the government had capitulated to Pakistan on the terrorism issue, soon after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh read out a statement on his meeting with his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani. You have delinked terrorism and the composite dialogue.

July 16th, 2009 Sharm el-SHEIKH - Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Thursday said the foreign secretaries of India and Pakistan will meet and discuss the nature of dialogue between the two countries in the future and will review action against terrorism. Manmohan Singh also made it clear that another Mumbai-like terrorist attack will affect dialogue of any kind.

July 16th, 2009 Sharm-el-SHEIKH - India and Pakistan Thursday said that dialogue was only answer to promote better neighbourly relations and that terrorism should not be linked to their composite dialogue process. A joint statement issued after talks between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of India and Yousaf Raza Gilani of Pakistan here also agreed that the two countries will share real time credible and actionable information on any future terrorist threat.

July 8th, 2009 WASHINGTON - The United States has said that India has been the biggest sufferer of terrorism, and that it sincerely wants to help New Delhi overcome the crises and stabilize the region. Inaugurating a confirmation hearing for Timothy Roemer, who has been nominated as new US Ambassador to India, Democrat Senator John Kerry pointed out that militancy has affected India more than any other country, and that the United States sincerely wants to help India to address the menace.

June 25th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Pakistan seriously believes that composite dialogue is in the interest of both India and Pakistan, foreign office spokesman Abdul Basit said here Thursday. "Talks are unavoidable for durable peace and prosperity in the region," Basit said at a weekly press briefing.

June 16th, 2009 YEKATERINBURG - Foreign secretaries of India and Pakistan will meet in the next few weeks and review Islamabad's actions against terrorism before taking a decision on resuming their "composite dialogue", it was decided during talks between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Asif Ali Zardari here Tuesday. The two leaders agreed to a meeting between their foreign secretaries to discuss the "primary issue" of terrorism and report to them before the Non Aligned Movement (NAM) summit in the Egyptian town of Sharm-al-Sheikh in mid-July, officials said.

June 11th, 2009 NEW DELHI - United States Under Secretary of State for political affairs William Burns on Thursday said that his country wants to have strong ties with India. Addressing media persons in the national Capital, Burns highlighted the significance of US-India relationship and its importance for both democracies as well as the world.

June 5th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Minister of External Affairs SM Krishna on Friday said India will resume dialogue with Pakistan only if they take concrete measures to prevent terrorist attacks. Talking to reporters here, Krishna said, "There will not be any talks between India and Pakistan unless they take concrete measures to prevent terrorist attacks emanating from Pakistan aimed against India.

February 8th, 2009 CHANDIGARH - The ongoing diplomatic row between India and Pakistan in the aftermath of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack is unlikely to see any intervention from the Commonwealth. The Commonwealth Secretary General Kamalesh Sharma Monday said that the terror issue between India and Pakistan was not on the Commonwealth's agenda.