MUMBAI: US President Barack Obama on Sunday urged arch-rivals India and Pakistan to work together to resolve their differences, while pushing Islamabad to do more to tackle extremism.
Speaking to college students in Mumbai, Obama said the US “could not impose” a partnership between the two countries, but added fast-growing India would benefit more than any other nation from better ties with Pakistan.
“I am absolutely convinced that the country that has the biggest stake in Pakistan is India,” he told students at the prestigious St Xavier’s College in south Mumbai. “If Pakistan is stable and prosperous, that’s best for India.”
He backed a slow-moving dialogue process between the countries that is designed to build trust and give leaders a basis for tackling the toughest aspects of their relationship, notably the divided territory of Kashmir. “My hope is that, over time, trust develops between the two countries, that dialogue begins perhaps on less controversial issues building up to more controversial issues,” he said.
In due course, he said he hoped “there’s a recognition that India and Pakistan can live side by side in peace and that both countries can prosper”. The main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and others in India complained on Saturday that Obama “missed an opportunity” to condemn Pakistan in his first speech after arriving in Mumbai.
Some Indians also question continued US financial and military support for Pakistan, which they consider a rogue state. Obama said although Islamabad was making progress against what he called the “cancer” of extremism, it was not happening quickly enough. “I think that the Pakistani government understands the threat that exists within its own borders,” he said. “Now, progress is not as quick as we would like,” he added, explaining that the Pakistani military faced difficulties cracking down on extremists in the rugged northwest of the country close to the Afghan border.
The US administration recognised that progress would not happen overnight, he added, saying they would continue to support Pakistan in its efforts. “Our feeling has been to be honest and forthright, to say, ‘We are your friend and this is a problem and we will help you but the problem needs to be addressed’,” he said.
Obama provoked an angry response in India before he took office by suggesting that the United States could mediate in Kashmir. But even though Obama was careful to stand back from advocating a direct role in improving Indo-Pakistani relations, students at the college said they were impressed.
“He answered most of the questions relating to Pakistan and Afghanistan very openly.
In India our politicians are just not so open,” Cecilia D’Mello, a 19-year-old science undergraduate at St Xavier’s, told AFP. “He actually makes us feel that we can make a change. We know that it is not an easy task but we know that it is possible,” she added.
