The US supports direct dialogue between India and Pakistan on issues of concern, a senior Biden administration official has said. There has been continued strain in ties between India and Pakistan on a number of issues including Islamabad’s continued support of cross-border terrorism and the Kashmir issue.

India has been maintaining that it desires normal neighbourly relations with Pakistan while insisting that the onus is on Islamabad to create an environment that is free of terror and hostility for such an engagement. India has also asserted that Jammu and Kashmir “was, is and will” always be part of the country. “As we have long said, we support direct dialogue between India and Pakistan on issues of concern. That has long been our position,” State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters on Wednesday at his daily news conference.

Miller’s remarks came two days after Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif offered to hold talks with India to address all serious and outstanding issues. Bilateral relations between Islamabad and New Delhi have been tense since August 2019 when India changed the special status of Jammu and Kashmir. On India’s ties with Pakistan, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said that it is not possible for India to have normal relations with the neighbouring country until the policy of cross-border terrorism is abrogated.

“We can’t allow terrorism to be normalised; we can not allow that to become the basis for getting us into discussions with Pakistan. To me it is a fairly common sense proposition,” he said in June.

After the recent bomb explosion that shook a rally in Pakistan, the lethal consequences of nurturing terrorism have come under the spotlight again. These horrifying incidents of violence, including the recent suicide bombing in the Peshawar market, which claimed the lives of more than 50 people, have shown Pakistan the chaotic result of being a terrorism well-wisher, according to a report in Khalsa Vox. The Islamic State Khorasan (ISKP), a banned terrorist organisation, was swift to claim responsibility for the atrocity. It was like tasting its own dish for Pakistan, as the country has long been a hospitable environment for terrorists, observed the Khalsa Vox report.

As per the publication, despite the limited resistance from the Pakistani Government, these terrorist organisations continue to succeed in their heinous crimes with chilling ease. Accusations of Pakistan’s intelligence agencies covertly supporting such groups have added to the public’s dismay. The government’s reluctance to deal with these malevolent entities has given rise to a breeding ground of terror that has only harmed the nation.

Economic crises contributing to terrorism

In the words of Hillary Clinton, “If you have snakes in your backyard, they won’t just bite your neighbours.” Terrorism, too, follows the same chilling principle. Should Pakistan continue to be a sanctuary for terrorists, they will eventually turn their fangs on their host. The recent bombings are but the latest cruel reminder of this imminent danger. The ripple effects of nurturing terror are not just security threats; they have started claiming the social and economic development of the country, whose economy despite a bailout by the International Monetary Fund continues to remain in shambles.

It is now a must for Pakistan to cut off all its support and backing for terrorism and dedicate itself to bringing the culprits of these heinous crimes to justice, the Khalsa Vox report. Likewise, rampant terrorism threatens to dismantle Pakistan’s political stability. When a government fails to shield its citizens from violence, it creates a fertile ground for extremist groups to grow and seize power, claimed Khalsa Vox.

The recent blast in Pakistan has sounded a blaring siren that the nation cannot afford to ignore any longer. It’s now no longer about other countries, it’s about the security of the Pakistani people and their future and now, it’s urgent for the Pakistani government to curb the flourishing terror and work for stability and peace.