Marco Rubio is in India for a four-day visit that includes attending the Quad foreign ministers’ meeting on Tuesday.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Monday said India is always “concerned” about Pakistan but has not raised any concerns over Islamabad’s role as a mediator.

Rubio, who is in India for a four-day visit that includes attending the Quad foreign ministers’ meeting on Tuesday, was speaking to reporters when he was asked whether New Delhi had raised any objections to Pakistan’s role as a mediator.

Responding to the question, Rubio said that while India has long pointed to the presence of armed terrorist groups operating from Pakistani territory, it has not raised objections to Islamabad’s role as a mediator.

“They’re always concerned about it, obviously. India is always pointing to the fact that there are armed terrorist groups operating from Pakistani territory that target India. They’re always concerned about that. But as far as the role they played as a mediator and a facilitator in the Iran situation, it never came up. I don’t think that they would complain about that. I mean, their issue with Pakistan is different.”

Rubio’s India visit
The US Secretary of State arrived in India on Saturday for bilateral meetings with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, and to participate in the Quad foreign ministers’ meeting on May 26, which is expected to focus on the Indo-Pacific.

Rubio, who is on his first official visit to India as Secretary of State, described India as “one of the US’ most important strategic partners” and a “leading trade partner”, while seeking to dispel perceptions that bilateral ties had lost momentum over the past year.

“I think the relationship continues to be strong and in fact, I believe by the end of this administration, it will be stronger than it’s ever been,” he said at a joint news conference.

Rubio also sidestepped a question from HT regarding India’s concerns over the US administration’s renewed engagement with Pakistan’s military leadership, saying: “As far as our relations with other countries – we have relations and we work at the tactical level, for example, and in many other ways with countries all over the world. So does India. That’s what responsible nation states do.