Islamabad: Despite India ruling out resumption of talks with Pakistan till it completely stopped cross border terrorism, the US on December 16 asserted it would remain engaged in bringing the two countries together for dialogue.

US Assistant Secretary of State Christina Rocca, who held wide-ranging talks with senior Pakistani officials, including Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmud Kasuri, also said that Washington was focussed on building a long-term and broad-based relationship with Islamabad.

Arriving a day after Pakistan arrested three people for allegedly trying to assassinate two American diplomats, Rocca held comprehensive talks on bilateral issues and the Indo-Pak standoff with Kasuri and Foreign Secretary Riaz Kokhar.

Rocca's talks with Kasuri and Kokhar covered a wide range of issues, regional and security issues, including the status of India-Pakistan relations, Foreign office spokesman Aziz Ahmed Khan told reporters.

A press release issued by Pakistan Foreign office said during the talks Rocca "underlined the US commitment to remain engaged in bringing about a Pakistan-India dialogue."

Both sides agreed that the resumption of the bilateral dialogue process was essential to meaningfully address all outstanding issues, the release said.

According to the release, Rocca said that the US was focused on building a long-term and broad-based relationship with Pakistan and appreciated Islamabad's cooperation in the global war against terrorism.

"The situation in the region with particular focus on Pakistan-India relations, SAARC (South Asian Association fro Regional Cooperation) and Afghanistan, were also discussed," the release said.

Earlier, replying to questions on Rocca's visit Khan said her visit was a part of frequent exchanges of views between Pakistan and United States.

Rocca would meet President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali on December 17 and hand over new equipment to beef up security at the airports to Pakistan at a special ceremony, he said.

Replying to questions on Indo-Pak relations, Khan declined to comment on BJP's sweeping victory in Gujarat saying it was an internal matter. "These are internal provincial polls. I am not going to comment on it," he said.

To a question whether India has shown any interest in resuming talks with Pakistan, he said, "We are waiting for a change of Indian attitude".

Asked to elaborate on yesterday's comments by Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Jamali that a certain lobby in India blocked the talks between the two countries, Khan said the Prime Minister did not mean any specific person.

"We cannot pinpoint XYZ are and against and so and so are in favour. There has been predominantly in the past few months a negative attitude towards Pakistan. All our positive proposals and efforts for reduction of tensions and improvement of relations to start dialogue, have not had positive response from India," he claimed.

PTI