US turns heat on Pakistan, seeks 'progress' in Pathankot investigation

Predicting the further worsening of ties between India and Pakistan, the United States has said that reduction in cross-border attacks by terrorist groups based in Islamabad and 'progress' in the 2016 Pathankot attack investigation can probably ease the tension between the hostile neighbours.

The Donald Trump Government also noted that Islamabad's failure to curb support to anti-India militants and India'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.

'Increasing numbers of firefights along the Line of Control, including the use of artillery and mortars, might exacerbate the risk of unintended escalation between these nuclear-armed neighbours,' the statement of the US Intelligence Community Senate Select Committee on Intelligence read.

The United States also assumed that the 'easing of heightened Indo-Pakistani 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.'

-ANI