U.S. Rejects Sharif's Call To Get Involved On Kashmir

Washington: Even before Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif landed here for a four-day visit, the US rejected out of hand his call for Washington to get involved to resolve the Kashmir issue.

"On Kashmir, our policy has not changed an iota," a senior administration official said in a background conference call Sunday reiterating US' oft-stated stand that Kashmir issue was a bilateral one between the two South Asian neighbours.

While it encouraged a dialogue between the two countries "the pace, scope, and character of India and Pakistan's dialogue on Kashmir is for those two countries to determine with each other," the official said.

The official was responding to comments made earlier Sunday by Sharif in London on way to Washington that even though India does not want it, world powers should get involved to resolve the Kashmir issue.

The world powers should do so as India and Pakistan both were nuclear powers and the region was a nuclear flash point, he was quoted as saying by the Associated Press of Pakistan.

But the US official did expect "India to come up at some point" during Sharif's first meeting Wednesday with US President Barack Obama nearly a month after Indian Prime Minister's Sep 27 summit with Obama at the White House.

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