WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State John Kerry telephoned Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Friday and discussed key bilateral and regional issues with him, diplomatic sources told Dawn.
The call comes ahead of an expected meeting between the prime minister and US President Barack Obama during Mr Sharif’s visit to the United States next month.
Secretary Kerry invited the prime minister to visit the United States for a meeting with President Obama during a trip to Islamabad early this month.
Secretary Kerry’s call also comes amid growing tensions along the Line of Control where a Pakistani captain and two soldiers were killed in Indian firing earlier this week.India claims that similar firing from the Pakistani side has killed its soldiers too.
Earlier on Friday, US Ambassador Richard Olson met Sartaj Aziz, Adviser to Prime Minister on National Security and Foreign Affairs.
Diplomatic sources in Washington noted that Mr Kerry’s call to the PM and the ambassador’s meeting with Mr Aziz preceded a visit to Pakistan by Afghan President Hamid Karzai early next week.
Mr Karzai and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will also be in the United States during Mr Sharif’s visit. Like Mr Sharif, they too will be meeting the US president.
The prime minister is also scheduled to hold separate meetings in New York with the Afghan and Indian leaders.
Mr Karzai and Mr Singh will also attend a trilateral meeting with Mr Obama.
These meetings are part of a US effort to ensure a peaceful transfer of its combat troops from Afghanistan by 2014. But tensions along the LoC have stirred fears that such clashes may also have an adverse effect on US plans.
At a briefing at the US State Department, spokesperson Jen Psaki, however, said that tensions in Kashmir had not yet reached the stage where they could have a negative impact on the situation in Afghanistan.
Commenting on the latest LoC violations by Indian troops, she said the United States was aware of those reports and had stayed engaged with both India and Pakistan on this issue.
The US official also hoped that India and Pakistan would engage in dialogue to defuse the situation.
Asked to comment on clashes along the LoC, Ms Psaki said: “We are certainly aware of these reports. We remain concerned about the violence along the Line of Control.”Stressing the need for a peaceful resolution to such issues, the US official said: “We understand that the governments of India and Pakistan are in contact. We continue to encourage further dialogue.”
Ms Psaki said that the US policy on Kashmir had not changed and it still believed that “the pace, scope, and character of India and Pakistan’s dialogue is for those two countries to determine.”
Asked why the Indians were not responding to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s calls for resuming peace talks, the US official said: “I can’t speculate on that. We certainly continue to encourage both sides to participate in dialogue.”