The US has no desire to mediate between India and Pakistan to settle the Kashmir dispute and the issue will have to be resolved by the two countries through negotiations, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in Islamabad, on Monday .
Kashmir is a complex issue and Pakistan and India need to sit together and resolve it, Clinton said during an interaction with a panel of Pakistani television anchors. The US has no desire to mediate on Kashmir, she said in response to a question.
Asked about the US condemning crackdowns on protesters in Iran and describing the demonstrations in Jammu and Kashmir as an internal matter of India, Clinton said the situation in Pakistan and India was different from that in Iran.
Pakistan and India are democracies and have free media while Iran is viewed differently by the US as it does not have an independent media, she said.
In response to another question on a civil nuclear deal for Pakistan, Clinton said her administration is considering the issue but any decision in this regard will take more time. It would be premature to say anything now about a nuclear deal for Pakistan, she said.
Asked if the US will act if it has information about the presence of terrorist leaders Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar in Pakistan, Clinton said their current whereabouts are not known.
The US wants Pakistani authorities to track and capture these terrorists, she said. The US will help in these efforts as the terrorist leaders pose a major threat to the world, she said. She added that the US will not abandon Pakistan when it pulls its troops out of Afghanistan. The roots of democracy in Pakistan have become stronger as the country has a free media and strong opposition and the US wants the democratically elected government to complete its term, Clinton said. PTI
