The US government has blamed Pakistan for worsening Indo-Pak ties and cautioned that the ties might worsen further if another major terrorist attack comes from across the border this year.
“Islamabad’s failure to curb support to anti-India militants and New Delhi’s growing intolerance of this policy, coupled with a perceived lack of progress in Pakistan’s investigations into the January 2016 Pathankot cross-border attack, set the stage for a deterioration of bilateral relations in 2016,” Daniel Coats, director of National Intelligence, said lawmakers during a Congressional hearing.
The ties between India and Pakistan deteriorated after two major terrorist attacks in 2016. “They might deteriorate further in 2017, especially in the event of another high-profile terrorist attack in India that New Delhi attributes to originating in or receiving assistance from Pakistan,” Coats said.
Coats backed India’s condition for bilateral talks on Islamabad. “Easing of heightened Indo-Pak tension, including negotiations to renew official dialogue, will probably hinge in 2017 on a sharp and sustained reduction of cross-border attacks by terrorist groups based in Pakistan and progress in the Pathankot investigation.”
Terrorists entered from across the border in January 2016, and attacked the Pathankot air base. The incident killed seven security personnel while four terrorists were killed.
