US welcomes resumption of Indo-Pak talks

Washington, Sep 19 (UNI) The United States has welcomed the decision of India and Pakistan to resume their peace-process which got stalled in the wake of July Mumbai bombings.

Addressing a press conference yesterday, State Department's deputy spokesperson Tom Casey said that though he had not seen the reports of the meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Pervez Musharraf in Havana, where they agreed on the resumption of the dialogue, ''we welcome the discussions between the two parties on the issues of mutual concern. We have a good and important relationship with India and Pakistan''.

''And we certainly welcome any efforts on the parts of leaders of both the countries to engage with one another and discuss any outstanding concerns,'' he added.

However, a couple of days before the Singh-Musharraf meeting, Assistant Secretary of State for Central and South Asia Richard Boucher had expressed the hope that it might help provide a basis for the resumption of talks.

Mr Boucher, at a meeting in Washington, also made clear that the US had no intention to interfere or mediate in the subcontinent.

The US will constantly encourage the composite dialogue process between the two countries, he emphasised.

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