The United States on Wednesday said that it supports a dialogue between India and Pakistan on issues of concern further stating that it has “long been our position”. During a press briefing, the State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said, "As we have long said, we support direct dialogue between India and Pakistan on issues of concern. That has long been our position." Miller was responding to a question put forward by a Pakistani journalist who had asked for a comment on PM Shehbaz Sharif’s recent statement where he purportedly said the country is ready to talk to India on bilateral problems if India is willing to address serious matters.
This comes after the Pakistani Prime Minister on Tuesday offered to hold talks with India to address all outstanding issues as he said that “war is not an option" for both countries as they fight poverty and unemployment.
Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif stated that to build a nation it is willing to speak to its neighbours. He said this during the opening ceremony of the Mineral Summit in Islamabad.
He stated that Pakistan is a nuclear power, not as an aggressor but for defence purposes. It said that in the past 75 years, three wars were fought, these only led to more poverty, unemployment and lack of resources to finance, education, health and well-being of the people. He stressed that it wasn’t the way to adopt.
"Because if there is any nuclear flashpoint, who will live to tell what happened? So (war) is not an option," PM Sharif was quoted by ANI.
He further said that both countries cannot become normal neighbours unless the existing “abnormalities are removed” and unless serious issues are understood and addressed through peaceful and meaningful discussions
India and Pakistan have had a strained relation since the beginning. India has asserted that talks cross-border terrorism and talks cannot go together. After the Indian government’s decision to abolish Jammu and Kashmir’s special status and bifurcate it into two Union territories [J&K and Ladakh] in August 2019. The Pakistan government, then led by Imran Khan, expelled India’s ambassador to Islamabad and halted bilateral trade.