WASHINGTON: The US State Department urged India and Pakistan on Monday not to escalate tensions and resolve their disputes through dialogue.

“We have been following the media reports about this issue,” said the department’s spokesperson Matthew Miller when asked to comment on media reports that Indian government agents had carried out assassinations inside Pakistan.

“We don’t have any comment on the underlined allegations.”

The US official, however, said that while Washington was not going to “get in the middle of this situation”, it would “encourage both sides to avoid escalation and find a resolution through dialogue”.

Britain’s The Guardian newspaper reported last week that the Indian government had “assassinated individuals in Pakistan as part of a wider strategy to eliminate terrorists living on foreign soil”.

In a later report, the newspaper noted that India’s Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, in a recent statement, confirmed that his government carried out extrajudicial killings in Pakistan.

Responding to another question, Mr Miller said the US secretary of state spoke with Pakistan’s foreign minister on Friday to “reaffirm our robust partnership which advances the prosperity of Pakistan and the US.”

The two diplomats discussed the importance of continued cooperation on counterterrorism, ex­­panding trade and investment partnership, and advancing women’s economic security and empowerment, Mr Miller added.

Published in Dawn, April 9th, 2024