Not war of words, but need constructive dialogue: US on India-Pak relation

Washington: While speaking about the recent outburst with Pakistani Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Ned Price, the spokesperson of US State Department said that rather than "war of words" the US wants to see constructive dialogue between the two nations aimed at the betterment of people.

"We have a global strategic partnership with India. I have also spoken about the deep partnership we have with Pakistan. These relationships in our mind are not zero-sum. We do not view them in relation to one another," said Ned Price.

Price said each of these relationships is indispensable to the US and to the promotion and pursuit of the shared goals that the US has with India and Pakistan.

"The fact that we have partnerships with both countries leaves us not wanting to see a war of words between India and Pakistan. We would like to see a constructive dialogue between India and Pakistan. We think that is for the betterment of the Pakistani and Indian people. There is much work that we can do together bilaterally," he added.

"There are differences that, of course, need to be addressed between India and Pakistan. The United States stands ready to assist as a partner to both," asserted the US spokesperson.

Price said each of these relationships is indispensable to the US and to the promotion and pursuit of the shared goals that the US has with India and Pakistan.

Pakistan foreign minister Bhutto-Zardari last week resorted to a personal attack on Prime Minister Modi and slammed the RSS after External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar told the UN Security Council that the "contemporary epicentre of terrorism" remains very much active and called for collective action to tackle them.

Though Jaishankar did not name any countries, it was apparent that he was making a veiled reference to Pakistan.

-With inputs from PTI