The US has rejected Pakistan's plea to facilitate talks with India and pressed for bilateral engagement between the two South Asian neighbours, according to foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi.

Pakistan wants the US to facilitate talks with India as the two nations are not engaging bilaterally, the top Pakistani diplomat told a Washington audience Wednesday. "When we asked the US, to play facilitating role...Why do we ask? Simply because we are not engaging bilaterally. And that bilateral disengagement is a distraction," Qureshi said in response to a question.