Obama urges India, Pakistan to cooperate

But mainly Hindu India and largely Muslim Pakistan — each of which developed nuclear weapons as a deterrent against the other — have fought three wars since they gained independence from Britain in 1947, and they remain deeply suspicious of each other’s motives.

Indian officials have accused Pakistan’s spy agency of helping orchestrate the 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai, and Pakistan sees Indian ties to Afghanistan as an attempt to encircle it.

But with Pakistan reeling from extremist attacks, Obama said India had the biggest stake in seeing Pakistan succeed, stabilize, and prosper.

“It is absolutely in your interests, at a time when you’re starting to succeed in incredible ways on the global economic stage, that you [don’t] want the distraction of security instability in your region,’’ he said. “So my hope is that over time, trust develops between the two countries, that dialogue begins — perhaps on less controversial issues, building up to more controversial issues.’’

India broke off talks with Pakistan after the November 2008 attacks in Mumbai. In recent months top foreign ministry officials from both nations have met repeatedly to try to break the ice, though India has ruled out restarting full-scale peace talks until the Pakistanis responsible for the attacks are punished.

Pakistani opposition politician Mushahid Hussain Sayed was quoted by the Press Trust of India as saying that Obama’s message supported Pakistan’s own call for resuming talks.

As Obama continues his 10-day trip to Asia, he plans to address the Indian Parliament today, with announcements expected on counterterrorism, regional security, clean energy, climate change, and economic growth.

The president is spending two nights in New Delhi before moving on to Indonesia, South Korea, and Japan.

During the forum at St. Xavier College, Obama took six questions. One of the sharper ones was: “Why is Pakistan so important an ally to America, so far as America has never called it a terrorist state?’’

There were some murmurs from the audience, but Obama said it was OK. He knew the question was coming.