US says Indo-Pak Foreign Secy-level meeting 'courageous step'

Lalit K Jha
Washington, Feb 26 (PTI) Commending the Indo-Pak
leadership for the "courageous" step of holding the Foreign
Secretary-level talks, the US has said the two countries have
realised that only they can resolve their differences
bilaterally.
"I think both countries realise there are lots of
important issues that only they can resolve between them, but
the United States has encouraged the dialogue and we obviously
hope that it will be productive," Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton told lawmakers at a Congressional hearing.
"...We are heartened by the fact that they are resuming
a dialogue," she said responding to questions from the members
of Foreign Affairs and Related Programmes Subcommittee of the
House Appropriations Committee.
On the meeting between Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao and
her Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir in New Delhi
yesterday, Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs P J
Crowley said it was a "very encouraging step".
"We certainly commend the leadership for (showing)
political courage and making sure that the meeting takes
place. Now, the challenge is to build on this...," he told
reporters here.
Though not much visible progress was made during
yesterday's meeting, Crowley said "the very fact that the top
officials of two countries met in itself is very encouraging."
"... there were some events recently where some elements
were trying to derail the prospect of this meeting because
they recognise that this has been beneficial to both countries
in the past, it was a courageous step to open the door to
dialogue again," he said.
"The Obama Administration has have long encouraged the
restoration of dialogue between the two countries. It is an
important step for Pakistan and India, and we commend the
political leadership in both countries," Crowley said. PTI LKJ
KAB