Washington: The United States has said that the developments in South Asia were positive and it was encouraged by the ongoing engagements between India and Pakistan on a host of issues.

"As I've said last week, we are encouraged by and supportive of ongoing and sustained engagement between India and Pakistan in a variety of fora on a host of issues. So those are all sort of positive developments," State Department Deputy Spokesman Adam Ereli said yesterday (June 7,2004).

The United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government on June 1 mooted a common nuclear doctrine for India, Pakistan and China, and announced that Foreign Secretary-level talks with Islamabad will be held on June 27 and 28.

"On the subject of terrorism and peace, I think President Musharraf has been very, very clear about his commitment to fight terrorism, and he has matched that, those words, with action," he said.

On the Iraq issue, Ereli said the US position on Moqtada al-Sadr, the Shiite cleric whose militia has been fighting the Americans, hasn't changed.

"It is our view Moqtada al-Sadr is a subject of Iraqi law and that law should be applied to him as well as to any other Iraqi citizen who has been accused of violating the law," he said.

Reminded of an earlier statement by the military authorities that they would try to arrest him or kill al-Sadr, Ereli said that an Iraqi judge had issued a warrant for Moqtada al-Sadr's arrest.