The United States has offered assistance to Pakistan for tackling theongoing countrywide electricity breakdown.
Addressing a news briefing in Washington on Monday, State Departmentspokesman Ned Price said the US had assisted Pakistan in handling a raft ofchallenges in the past. “We are prepared to do so in this case also,” headded.
Replying to another question, Ned Price said Washington has long called forregional stability in South Asia but any dialogue between Pakistan andIndia is a matter for those two countries.
*Here are the excerpts of Ned Price’s new briefing regarding Pakistan:*
QUESTION: There is a massive national grid collapse inside Pakistan. Thefederal minister has said that even the emergency services are being shutdown, like hospitals. I know US has played a big role in Pakistan’s powerelectricity generation. Is US sending someone over there to look into itfor a long-term solution to the collapse of the power grids?
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MR PRICE: Of course, I’ve seen what has transpired in Pakistan. Ourthoughts are with all those who’ve been affected by the outages. The UnitedStates of course, as you mentioned, has assisted our Pakistani partnersacross any number of challenges. We are prepared to do so in this case ifthere is something that we’re able to provide. But I’m not aware of anyparticular requests.
QUESTION: Sir, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has called for peacetalks with India. He says that he’s ready to talk about all the burningissues, including Kashmir, but India rejected that offer. They say this isnot, like, the right time to talk about these issues. What are yourcomments on that? Because you always talk about the peace and stability inthe region.
MR PRICE: We have – you’re right, we’ve long called for regional stabilityin South Asia. That’s certainly what we want to see. We want to see itadvanced. When it comes to our partnership – our partnerships with Indiaand Pakistan, these are relationships that stand on their own. We do notsee these relationships as zero-sum. They stand on their own. We have longcalled for regional stability in South Asia, but the pace, the scope, thecharacter of any dialogue between India and Pakistan is a matter for thosetwo countries, India and Pakistan.
