US supports 'direct dialogue' between India and Pakistan over 'issues of concern'

The United States on Tuesday said that it supports India and Pakistan to have a direct dialogue on issues of concern. However, the State Department refrained from commenting on the recent decision of the Pakistani Cabinet over not importing sugar and cotton from India.

"I wouldn't want to comment on that specifically," State Department spokesperson Ned Price told reporters at his daily news conference. According to PTI, he said, "What I would say is that we continue to support direct dialogue between India and Pakistan on issues of concern."

On 26th March, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan in his capacity as Minister of Commerce presented the proposal to resume the import of Cotton and Sugar from India during the Economic Coordination Committee meeting. However, Pakistan's Cabinet on April 1 rejected the proposal of a high-powered committee to import cotton and sugar from India, with Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi asserting that there can be no normalisation of ties until New Delhi reverses its decision to revoke the special status of Jammu and Kashmir. Pakistan said that it needs reconsideration, while once again raking up the issue of Abrogation of Article 370 and 35A in Jammu and Kashmir.

The Kashmir pact and talks on Indus Water Treaty

Meanwhile, India and Pakistan have recently been involved in talks over certain aspects that are crucial to both sides. India and Pakistan signed a pact earlier this year, that has freed the Kashmir region of the ceasefire violations that went on for a very long time.
 
The armies of India and Pakistan after talks with their respective governments had observed that over 70 people succumbed to ceasefire violations, in the Valley, in 2020. The pact was signed amid appeals made by former J&K chief ministers Farooq Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti who urged the Indian government to hold talks with Pakistan, to establish peace in the Valley, further stopping the violence that the ministers said had killed enough Kashmiris to date. India and Pakistan also held talks on the Indus Water Treaty that helps both the nations to enforce a mechanism for information exchange on better use of rivers.