Qureshi rakes up Kashmir in Hillary's presence

With United States' Secretary of State Hillary Clinton by his side, Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Monday raked up the Kashmir issue and said his country wants a sustained dialogue with India.

Qureshi, who has been blowing hot and cold against India in the last few days after a deadlock in the Indo-Pak talks, said, "sustaining dialogue with India and finding a just solution of the Kashmir dispute" was part of the "convergent interest" of US and Pakistan.

The Pakistan foreign minister referred to Kashmir and India in his opening remarks at the US-Pak Strategic Dialogue with Clinton here this morning.

"This vision is driven by our convergent interest in the present day including fighting the twin menace of extremism and terrorism," Qureshi said, referring to the mutual interest of the two countries in the region.

During the joint press conference by Clinton and Qureshi, there was no reference to Kashmir, India or last week's meeting of the two foreign ministers.

However, diplomatic sources said Clinton told the Pakistani leadership during the Strategic Dialogue that the US wants continuation of Indo-Pak dialogue so that the two sides could amicably resolve their outstanding problems.

Clinton made the remarks after Qureshi briefed her on the meeting between the Foreign Ministers of India and Pakistan here on July 15.

 "The Secretary of State made it clear that the US is interested that the process between Pakistan and India should be sustained," a diplomatic source familiar with the discussions said.