US wants Indo-Pak talks on terror, not Kashmir

Washington: US feels that Kashmir issue won't be part of the agenda during talks between Foreign Ministers of India and Pakistan next month as the meeting will focus mainly on action against terrorism and the progress Islamabad has made into the Mumbai attacks probe.

Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Robert Blake said: "I don't think Kashmir is really the question that's on the table now."

He said the real question now is to get some progress on the trial of the Mumbai suspects, those who are already in custody in Pakistan and also see progress by Pakistan on stopping actions by Lashkar-e-Taiba and other Punjab-based terrorist groups against India.

"I think those are really the redlines that they've established for really establishing or reestablishing their composite dialogue. And so those are areas where I think we can help and encourage our Pakistani friends to move forward, and indeed we have," he told BBC in an interview.

Blake said the US was always interested in seeing if peace can be enhanced between these two very important partners of the US.

"But we have always said that it is really up to India and Pakistan themselves to resolve this and that the pace, scope and character of their dialogue is really completely up to them," he said.

"So we are more in the mode of just encouraging peace on both sides and encouraging both sides to address each other's concerns as much as possible," he said.

External Affairs Minister S M Krishna would visit Islamabad on July 15 to hold talks with his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mehmood Qureshi. The two leaders would discuss terrorism and bilateral issues, including Kashmir.

India had put the Composite Dialogue process with Pakistan on hold since the Mumbai attacks. In April, the countries decided to resume dialogue at the level of Foreign Ministers and Foreign Secretaries.

Prior to Krishna's visit, Home Minister P Chidambaram would be in Islamabad later this month to attend the SAARC Home Ministers meeting and would talks with his counterpart Rehman Malik. Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao would accompany Chidambaram during his visit.

The Home Minister is likely to get an update on Pakistan's probe into Mumbai attacks.