A delegation of US Council of Muslim Organisations (USMCO) that met a senior State Department official dealing with Pakistan to raise the Kashmir issue has been told that Washington backs direct talks between New Delhi and Islamabad on Kashmir.

“The US continues to support direct dialogue between India and Pakistan on Kashmir and other issues of concern – a message stressed in Deputy Assistant Secretary Massinga’s recent meeting with @USCMO leadership,” the Acting Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asia, Alice G Wells, tweeted on Friday.

Erwin Massinga is in-charge of Pakistan Affairs within the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs.

Pakistan has been trying to gain global attention by raising the Kashmir issue at the United Nations.

Recently, Shireen M Mazari, minister for human rights in the Imran Khan government had issued a letter to multiple UN officials, listing Pakistan’s complaints about the situation in Jammu and Kashmir since the abrogation of Article 370.

However, the global community has stressed that the Kashmir issue is a bilateral matter between New Delhi and Islamabad.

The US has maintained that there is no change in its policy on Kashmir and called on India and Pakistan to maintain calm and restraint.

The US policy has been that Kashmir is a bilateral issue between India and Pakistan and it is up to the two countries to decide on the pace and scope of the talks on the issue.

Earlier, US President Donald Trump had said that he was ready to mediate in the Kashmir dispute.

However, toning down on the mediation offer, a top White House official later said that Trump is “ready to assist” India and Pakistan on the Kashmir issue if both sides ask for it, while underlining that the US President is “very focused” on the situation in the Valley in view of its “broader implications”.

Russia too has said that abrogation of Article 370 is the “sovereign decision” of the Indian government adding that it was an “internal matter” of India.

During the closed-door meeting at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), Moscow had reiterated that Kashmir is an internal issue of India.

The rare closed-door consultations on Kashmir by the UN Security Council ended without any outcome or statement from the powerful 15-nation UN organ, dealing a huge snub to Pakistan and its all-weather ally China to internationalise the issue, which an overwhelming majority stressed is a bilateral matter between New Delhi and Islamabad.

Majority of the 15 members said there should not be any statement or outcome issued after the consultations and their will prevailed, leaving China to come out and make a statement in its national capacity followed by Pakistan.

France, UK, Russia, the US — four of the five permanent members of the UN security council — have endorsed India’s line.

On August 6, the Indian Parliament approved provisions to scrap Article 370 and passed a bill to bifurcate the state into two Union Territories.

India had categorically told the international community that the scrapping of Article 370 to revoke the special status of Jammu and Kashmir was an internal matter and also advised Pakistan to accept the reality.