After India pulls out of the SAARC summit which is going to be held in Islamabad in November, the United States stated that it will continue to pressurize Pakistan to act against terrorists seeking safe havens within its borders.

However, the United States has also called for ‘de-escalation of the political discourse’ between the two South Asian neighbors.

In his daily press briefing, US State Department Deputy spokesperson Mark Toner said, “Well, I mean, clearly we’ve talked about that before is, while we’ve seen Pakistan make progress on some of the terrorist groups operating within its own borders and carrying out attacks within its borders, that we continue to put pressure on Pakistan to respond to those groups who are, quote/unquote, ‘seeking safe haven on Pakistan’s borders’, that — who are intent on carrying out attacks elsewhere in the region.”

Toner said, “We want to see closer relations and a normalization of relations, frankly, between India and Pakistan.”

“It would be the — to the benefit of the region. And we want to see de-escalation in the political discourse between the two countries and greater communication and coordination between them,” he further added.

Responding harshly to Pakistan after the Uri Attack, which killed 18 soldiers and allegedly planned by the Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-E-Muhammad, India has boycotted this year’s SAARC summit to be held in Islamabad.

The other SAARC nations Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Bhutan have also pulled themselves out the SAARC summit in Islamabad and Sri Lanka has also said that their would not be any SAARC summit without India’s participation.

The US is one of the observers of the SAARC summit among, Australia, China, the European Union, Iran, Japan, Mauritius, Myanmar and South Korea.

By Prajakt K