WASHINGTON: The Unit­ed States has urged India and Pakistan to tone down their rhetoric, reminding them for the third time in three days that better relations between South Asia’s two nuclear armed nations will benefit the entire region.

The latest appeal for peace came after India announced that it would not attend the 19th summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) in Islamabad in November.

Although State Depart­ment’s deputy spokesman Mark Toner refused to comment on India’s decision, he did ask the two countries to stop their back and forth rhetoric.

“It’s not for us, necessarily, to offer a prescription (to India and Pakistan but)… we want to see a de-escalation and that’s, obviously, facts on the ground or actions on the ground, but also applies to the rhetoric that’s flying back and forth,” he said.

The US official noted that it was in the two countries’ mutual interest to put aside tensions, de-escalate and establish normal channels of communication.

Since Sept 18, when 18 Indian soldiers were killed in a militant attack on an army base in the town of Uri in India-held Kashmir, the United States has been regularly urging the two South Asian nations not to allow the incident to further deteriorate their already tense relations.

India, however, used the incident to launch a major diplomatic offensive aimed at isolating Pakistan.

At a Tuesday afternoon news briefing in Washington, journalists sought Mr Toner’s views on the developments but the US official refused to blame either India or Pakistan for the current situation and instead urged both to de-escalate tensions. “More broadly… we want to see closer relations and a normalisation of relations between India and Pakistan. It would be to the benefit of the region,” he said.

“And we want to see de-escalation in the political discourse between the two countries and greater communication and coordination between them,” he added.

“I’m not sure what your reference is,” replied Mr Toner when an Indian journalist asked if “talks and terror can go together simultaneously.”

He noted that Pakistan had made progress in the fight against the terrorist groups that attacked targets within its borders, but urged it to go after other groups as well.

“We continue to put pressure on Pakistan to respond to those groups who are ‘seeking safe haven on Pakistan’s borders,’ that’s who are intent on carrying out attacks elsewhere in the region,” he said.

At the White House, Press Secretary Josh Earnest urged India and Pakistan to “resolve the differences peacefully and through diplomacy”.

Asked at a news briefing what the US thinks of the current situation in South Asia, now that India has pulled out from the Saarc summit, he said, “The United States has continued to encourage India and Pakistan to find a way to resolve their differences peacefully and through diplomacy. And we have condemned violence, particularly terrorist attacks.”

The United States, he said, would “continue to be hopeful” and encourage both sides to find a way to resolve their differences and to reduce tensions through diplomacy and without resorting to violence.

Published in Dawn September 29th, 2016