Lahore:
Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi today said the US should play a role in settling the longstanding Kashmir dispute with India as the goal of regional peace and stability cannot be achieved without resolving this issue.
Pakistan has no objections to the US playing a role in resolving the dispute though India is opposed to any such move, he said, while briefing reporters on the just concluded third round of the Pakistan-US Strategic Dialogue.
Asked about the role of the US in settling the six-decade-old Kashmir dispute, Qureshi said: "They (Americans) say there should be peace in this region and we want this too".
"I am telling them that if lasting peace is to be achieved in this region, we must find a solution to the Kashmir issue. As long as this problem remains, relations between India and Pakistan cannot be normalised," the Minister said.
Without the normalisation of bilateral relations, there will be "a question mark over peace in the region" and the activities of SAARC will be affected, he said.
"If you desire regional stability and a regional approach, (the US) should play a role, just as the US and the World Bank acted as mediators in the water dispute between India and Pakistan (in the 1950s)," he said.
Qureshi said he had forcefully raised the Kashmir issue during his last meeting with Indian External Affairs Minister S M Krishna in July and would raise it again when he visits India.
"It is not possible that the Pakistani Foreign Minister goes to India and does not express solidarity with the Kashmiris and present Pakistans views on Kashmir," he said.
Though separatist leaders in Jammu and Kashmir had expressed concerns about "confused signals" emanating from Pakistan on the Kashmir issue, they were now relieved after Islamabad presented its views on the dispute at the UN General Assembly session and various forums in the US, Qureshi claimed.
"We want good relations and talks with India. We want peace in India and this region. We believe that if our relations are normalised and become better, then not only Pakistan but India too will benefit," he said.
The water issue affects relations between India and Pakistan because both countries share the same sources of water, the Pakistani leader said.
He said the US "has to give importance to this issue and investments will have to be made in Pakistans water projects".
During the Strategic Dialogue which ended on Friday, Pakistan exchanged views with the US on civil nuclear cooperation and Pakistan's energy requirements.
"There should be no discrimination in US policy. India has energy needs and you gave them (a civil nuclear deal). If we have energy needs, talk to us too," he said.
Despite managing to get USD 2.29 billion in fresh military aid, Pakistan had failed to extract anything from the US on two key issues of civilian nuclear deal similar to that of India and American intervention in resolving the Kashmir issue.
US State Department spokesman P J Crowley in Washington had clarified that the US has no role to play in the Kashmir issue and both India and Pakistan has to resolve it bilaterally.