A significant thaw is improbable, notwithstanding the fact that the US has once more refrained from pressing for meaningful talks between Pakistan and India. A representative for the US State Department called for regional stability in South Asia, adding India and Pakistan should decide on the breadth, pace, and nature of any talks between the two nations. The greatest interests of their respective populations require India and Pakistan to cooperate, but Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not yet responded to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s offer to resume negotiations with New Delhi. Both nations must maintain the positive attitude they displayed in January 2019, when the region felt a warm breeze following the opening of the Kartarpur Corridor and India demonstrated its willingness to allow a Pakistani team to visit hydropower facilities in the Chenab basin. The prime minister recently urged the UAE to play a key role in bringing India and Pakistan to the negotiating table, but domestic pressure forced him to retract his remarks after Mr Sharif made it clear that talks with India can only begin after that country reverses its “illegal action of August 5, 2019.” The United States might play a crucial role in bringing the two antagonistic countries closer together. “We have long called for regional stability in South Asia,” said a State Department spokesperson. That’s exactly what we’d like to see. We want to see it progress.” The US official also discussed Washington’s partnerships with both New Delhi and Islamabad, emphasising that they are independent relationships. We do not consider these relationships to be zero-sum. They are self-sufficient. The ball is now in Mr Modi’s court. Both countries must retain the importance of these great alliances, as the entire world wishes to see India and Pakistan engage in constructive engagement. However, the Indian side says nothing about confronting the Pakistani side. Now, on a more upbeat note, in the wake of Mr Sharif’s statement and the inauguration of the Kartarpur Corridor, we should anticipate signs of a warming in relations between the two countries. For the first time in four years, the opposing side has invited Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto to the SCO summit. For a thriving and developed South Asia, circles of peace lovers on both sides call for more of these exchanges and advancements. Conferring on a bilateral basis will quiet adversarial voices in both nations. Greater exchanges ought to lead to a tranquil Line of Control and more cross-border trade. *