Trump's Kashmir mediation offer touches off storm in India

Published Jul 23, 2019

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New Delhi - Indian Prime Minister

Narendra Modi never asked US President Donald Trump to help

mediate with Pakistan their dispute over the Kashmir region, the

government said on Tuesday, after Trump's comments set off a

storm of criticism.

Trump told reporters on Monday that Modi had asked him,

during a meeting in Japan last month, if he would like to be a

mediator on Kashmir, which is at the heart of decades of

hostility between India and Pakisan.

Trump was speaking at the White House just before he sat

down for talks with Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan who

welcomed the U.S. effort to intercede, saying he would carry the

hopes of more than a billion people in the region.

But the comments triggered a political storm in India which

has long bristled at any suggestion of third-party involvement

in tackling Kashmir, a Muslim-majority region that it considers

as an integral part of the country.

The divided Himalayan region is claimed by both

Hindu-majority India and Islamic Pakistan and the nuclear-armed

neighbours have gone to war two times over the territory since

independence in 1947.

Pakistan has long pressed for the implementation of

decades-old U.N. resolutions calling for a ballot for the region

to decide its future. India says the United Nations has no role

in Kashmir, where separatist militants have bene battling Indian

forces for years.

Trump's comments risked further straining political ties

with India which are already under pressure over trade.

Foreign Minister Subrahmanyan Jaishankar, who was part of

the Indian delegation at the G20 meeting in Japan where Trump

and Modi met, told agitated lawmakers that Modi did not seek any

help from Trump over Kashmir.

"The U.S. president made certain remarks to the effect he

was ready to mediate if requested by India and Pakistan. I

categorically assure the house that no such request has been

made by the prime minister, I repeat, no such request was made,"

he told parliament.

Tension between India and Pakistan has been high since an

attack on an Indian military convoy in Kashmir in February

claimed by a Pakistan-based militant group prompted India to

send warplanes into Pakistan.

Pakistan retaliated by ordering its jets into India's side

of Kashmir the following day, raising the prospect of a wider

conflict.

Jaishankar said there could be no third-party involvement in

India's problems with Pakistan.

"I also reiterate that it has been India's position that all

outstanding issues are discussed only bilaterally. I further

underline any engagement with Pakistan would require an end to

cross-border terrorism."

Pakistan denies Indian accusations that it gives material

help to the militants fighting Indian rule in Kashmir for nearly

three decades, but says it gives moral and diplomatic support to

the Kashmiri people in their struggle for self-determination.

'PRAYERS'

Soon after Trump's remarks, the U.S. State Department said

in a post on Twitter that it supported any dialogue between

India and Pakistan but that Kashmir was a matter for the two

countries.

"While Kashmir is a bilateral issue for both parties to

discuss, the Trump administration welcomes Pakistan and India

sitting down and the United States stands ready to assist," it

said.

The Democratic chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives

Foreign Affairs Committee, Eliot Engel, spoke to the Indian

ambassador to say there was no change in the U.S. position on

Kashmir, the committee said on Twitter.

"Engel reiterated his support for the longstanding U.S.

position on the Kashmir dispute, saying he supported dialogue

between India & Pakistan, but the dialogue’s pace & scope can

only be determined by India & Pakistan."

He also said that Pakistan must "dismantle the terrorist

infrastructure" for any meaningful dialogue with India.

Pakistan's Khan and Kashmiri separatists welcomed U.S.

intervention.

"I can tell you right now Mr President you will have the

prayers of over a billion people if you can mediate and resolve

this issue," Khan said.

Kashmir separatist leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq said he would

support any effort to end the conflict in the region in which

tens of thousands have been killed, and the people of Kashmir

would welcome Trump's intervention.

Trump and Khan also discussed ways to end the 18-year war in

Afghanistan. The United States sees Pakistan's cooperation as

crucial to any deal to ensure the country does not become a base

for militant groups like Islamic State. 

Reuters

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