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Published 04 Apr, 2017 01:28pm

US to be part of efforts to de-escalate India-Pakistan tensions: Nikki Haley

The Trump administration will try and "find its place" to be a part of efforts to de-escalate tensions between India and Pakistan, United States Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said, while also suggesting that President Donald Trump may also participate in the process.

"It's absolutely right that this administration is concerned about the relationship between India and Pakistan and very much wants to see how we de-escalate any sort of conflict going forward," she said while answering a question at a press conference on Monday after the US assumed the presidentship of the UN Security Council for the month of April.

Ambassador Haley, who is of Indian ancestry, was asked whether the US would make any effort to get India and Pakistan to engage in peace talks.

"I would expect that the [Trump] administration is going to be in talks and try and find its place to be a part of that," she told reporters.

"We don't think we should wait till something happens. We very much think that we should be proactive in the way that we are seeing tensions rise and conflicts start to bubble up, and so we want to see if we can be a part of that," the US envoy added.

"I think that will be something that you will see members of the [US] national security council participate in, but also wouldn't be surprised if the president participates in that as well."

It was the first comment by a member of the Trump administration on the escalating tensions between the South Asian neighbours.

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