WASHINGTON: The United States has said that it has always been “incredibly supportive” of any move that increases “people-to-people ties” between South Asia’s two nuclear-armed neighbours, India and Pakistan.

At her Tuesday afternoon’s news briefing, State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus once again refused to speculate about the agenda for the July 22 meeting between US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Imran Khan.

“So, the meeting, of course, between Mr Khan and President Trump will be at the White House, and that’s, of course, there — I’ll leave it to the White House to talk more about what will happen in that visit,” she said.

At an earlier briefing, Ms Ortagus had said that she did “not have anything to announce” about the visit as the White House had not confirmed it yet. Her remarks caused wild speculations in Pakistan about the nature and scope of the visit.

Official describes efforts for building Kartarpur corridor for Sikh pilgrims as good news

When asked at her latest briefing if she was aware of the efforts to build a corridor at Kartarpur to facilitate Sikh pilgrims, the US official said: “Yeah, that was certainly a good news report, wasn’t it? We encourage it.”

Explaining the US policy on such issues, Ms Ortagus said: “Anything that increases people-to-people ties between India and Pakistan is something that we’re incredibly supportive of.”

Her comments follow the July 14 talks between India and Pakistan on the opening of the Kartarpur corridor for Sikh pilgrims. Pakistan says it has already completed more than “80 per cent” of the project. India, however, is moving cautiously as it fears that the project could boost Pakistan’s image in the Sikh community.

The talks were held at the Wagah border where director of the South Asian affairs at the Foreign Office, Dr Mohammad Faisal, led a 13-member Pakistani team. India’s Joint Secretary of Interior S.C.L. Das headed an eight-member Indian team.

The corridor is a Pakistani peace initiative and is part of a set of measures Pakistan has undertaken to commemorate the 550th birth anniversary of Baba Guru Nanak. The corridor will provide Indian Sikhs visa-free access to Gurdwara Darbar Sahib at Kartarpur in Pakistan.

In March this year, a Pakistani delegation visited Attari to work out the modalities. The next round of talks was scheduled for April 2 at Wagah, but India pulled out of it, accusing Islamabad of including pro-Khalistan activists in a committee that looks after Sikh shrines in Pakistan.

Islamabad rejected New Delhi’s claim as unfounded.

Published in Dawn, July 18th, 2019