Infiltration from Pak into India obstacle to relationship: US

US said continued infiltration of LeT and other terrorist groups into India is obstacles to Indo-Pak relationship.

The US has said that the continued infiltration of Lashkar-e-Taiba LeT and other Pakistani Punjab-based terrorist groups into India is one of the most important obstacles to the Indo-Pak relationship and the dialogue between the two South Asian neighbours.

8220;One of the most important obstacles to expansion of those relations is the continuing infiltration from Pakistan to by Punjab-based groups,such as Lashkar-e-Taiba LeT and Jaish-e-Mohammed JeM,8221; Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Robert Blake said yesterday.

8220;The United States has consistently called for greater action on the part of Pakistan to stop the activities of these groups,8221; Blake asserted,thus putting on Pakistan the onus of success of the resumption of the dialogue between the two countries.

The State Department spokesman also refuted reports that the US is pressurising either India or Pakistan to continue with the dialogue process,as is being reported in the American and Indian media.

8220;We always have an interest in seeing our two friends have peaceful relations,but we are not pressurising either side,8221; Blake said.

The United States has consistently said that it is up to India and Pakistan to determine how to improve their relations and that the pace and the scope and the character of whatever talks they have is really up to those two countries to decide,he added.

8220;But we will always stand ready to help in any way that we can,because again,we see it very much in our interest to see improved ties between these two friends of ours,8221; Blake said.

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Pakistan,he conceded,along with Afghanistan would be one of the major issues of discussions during the next week8217;s strategic dialogue between India and US; which would be co-chaired by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and External Affairs Minister S M Krishna. Blake said during the meeting the US will welcome the announcement that has been made by the Indians and the Pakistanis that their two foreign ministers will meet in Islamabad in mid-July.

8220;That meeting will be preceded by a very important meeting between the home ministers that will take place in late June.

Home Minister P Chidambaram of India will be,again,

visiting Islamabad. So those are very important opportunities to try to expand relations and to reduce some of the frictions between these two friends of the United States,8221; he said.

The State Department official said the US would like to see two of its friends 8212; India and Pakistan 8212; to get back on the days of 2004-2007,when Pakistan took actions against terrorists and that laid the basis for a very significant expansion in relations between the two countries.

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8220;But one of the first things that has to happen is for there to be visible progress in stopping this,8221; he said.

8220;I think the point that the Secretary of State andDefense Secretary Gates and the US President himself has made is that increasingly,these groups are all operating together as a syndicate.

So it8217;s very much in Pakistan8217;s own interest to take on these groups as well,8221; Blake said.