UN, US call for Pak-India dialogue to reduce tensions.

Byline: Anwar Iqbal

WASHINGTON -- The United Nations and the United States are both urging India and Pakistan to resolve the Kashmir dispute through dialogue, as concerns about tensions in a nuclear-armed region grow.

'When you have two nuclear powers that have fought military conflicts under a nuclear umbrella, it is important that all avenues be explored to increase contact and communication between the two sides,' a senior US official told journalists on Thursday evening.

At a similar briefing, US Acting Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Alice Wells asked India for a roadmap on restoring normality in held Kashmir and sought the release of politicians detained since its Aug 5 annexation.

In New York, a UN spokesman said Secretary General Antonio Guterres believed that dialogue between India and Pakistan 'is absolute essential' for resolving the Kashmir dispute and his good offices were available if both sides needed help to engage with each other.

The appeals came days after dozens of US lawmakers expressed concern at the increasingly tense situation in India-held Kashmir at a congressional hearing in Washington and emphasised the need for Delhi and Islamabad to resolve it peacefully.

India, however, continues to reject offers to mediate, insisting that Kashmir is its internal matter.

Despite the Indian rejection, UN secretary general and US President Donald Trump have both repeatedly offered to help reduce tensions between two nuclear-armed neighbours.

On Thursday, Washington once again made it clear that New Delhi's refusal to accept mediation cannot prevent the American president from underlining the need for a peaceful resolution of the Kashmir issue.

The US official, who briefed the media on the situation in Kashmir, said: 'It's possible to have a dialogue and the United States encourages the countries to engage as two nuclear powers living side by side.' President Trump, he added, has remained engaged with leaders of both the countries.

The current tensions followed India's decision to annex the occupied Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcate it into two union territories. New Delhi also imposed curfew, cut off communication and imposed other restrictions to prevent a popular backlash against the decision.

Secretary General Guterres believes that any solution to the 70-year-old dispute must be rooted in respect for human rights of the Kashmiri people, spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

'The secretary general... has...