WASHINGTON: The Biden administration on Monday blew off questions about a controversial BBC documentary on then chief minister Narendra Modi's purported culpability for the 2002 Gujarat riots while vigorously talking up shared values and close ties between the United States and India. Administration officials also addressed Pakistan Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif's call for talks with India with the familiar refrain that while Washington desired regional stability, the "pace, the scope, the character of any dialogue between India and Pakistan is a matter for those two countries." There are close political ties, there are economic ties, there are exceptionally deep people-to-people ties between the United States and India," he said. But we want first and foremost to reinforce those values that are at the heart of our relationship," he added. Pakistani activists have sought to make capital of the BBC documentary, but given the perilous situation that Pakistan -- itself a proponent of ethnic cleansing -- finds itself in, they are finding little traction.
Continue reading...
