Indo-Pak: US for a role, PM says no talks till terror ends

New Delhi, Nov 8 (PTI) Pushing for Indo-Pak dialogue, US
President Barack Obama Monday offered to play "any role" the
two countries would like it to do to reduce tensions but
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh made it clear that talks
cannot take place until Pakistan ends "terror-induced
coercion".
Singh asserted that India wants to engage with Pakistan
to resolve all outstanding issues and was "not afraid" of
discussing Kashmir.
Obama and Singh discussed the India-Pakistan ties and
other range of issues covering bilateral and global matters
and announced a number of new initiatives, including
cooperation in homeland security, removal of Indian entities
from the US sanctions list and setting up of a research centre
in India in the civil nuclear field.
Singh welcomed the US move to end export control on
dual-use technology to India and support for its membership of
multilateral groupings in the nuclear field, like the Nuclear
Suppliers Group.
He allayed America's fears over outsourcing, saying
India was "not in the business of stealing jobs" but
cooperation in the economic field would create a win-win
situation for both teh countries.
After the 75-minute meeting, Obama told a joint press
conference that he had discussed situation in the region,
including India-Pakistan relations with Singh.
"Kashmir is a longstanding dispute between India and
Pakistan. I believe both Pakistan and India have interest in
reducing tensions between the two countries," said the US
President who is on his maiden visit here.
Emphasising that the US "cannot impose" solution to this
problem, he said he had "indicated to India's Prime Minister
Singh that we are happy to play any role the parties think is
appropriate to reducing these tensions that is in interest of
the region, the two countries and the United States."
Hoping that "coversations" between India and Pakistan
would start over the "next several months and years", Obama
said the dialogue may not start on that "particular flash
point" but other issues like confidence-building measures to
enable the two countries to focus on range of their challenges
and opportunities.
Singh, on his part, asserted that India was committed
to engaging with Pakistan and resolve all outstanding issues,
"including the word-K (reference to Kashmir). We are not
afraid of that.
"But it is our request is that you cannot simultaneously
be talking and at the same time the terror machine (in
Pakistan) is active as ever before. Once Pakistan moves away
from terror-induced coercion, we will be very happy to engage
productively with Pakistan to resolve all outstanding issues."
In his opening remarks, Obama said the two leaders
agreed on the need for all nations in the region to take steps
that there are no safe havens for terrorists, an apparent
reference to Pakistan.