Biarritz:
India and Pakistan can resolve their dispute on Kashmir through discussions, said US President Donald Trump alongside Prime Minister Narendra Modi in France on Monday.
“We spoke last night about Kashmir, the Prime Minister really feels he has it (situation) under control. They speak with Pakistan and I’m sure that they will be able to do something that will be very good,” said Trump, withdrawing from his earlier statements offering to mediate between the two countries.
“I have very good relationship with both the gentlemen (Modi and Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan) and I’m here. I think they can do it (resolve the issue) themselves,” he said at a press briefing in Biarritz ahead of his meeting with Modi on the sidelines of the G7 summit in France.
Modi rejected any scope for third party mediation between India and Pakistan on Kashmir. “There are many bilateral issues between India and Pakistan, and we don’t want to trouble any third country. We can discuss and resolve these issues bilaterally,” said Modi.
“When I had called Prime Minister Khan after the elections, I told him that Pakistan has to fight against poverty, India has to also fight against it. Pakistan has to fight against illiteracy and disease, and India has to also fight against them…I told him we should work together for the welfare of our people,” Modi was quoted by news agency PTI as saying.
Trump, after a meeting with Imran Khan in July in the White House, had claimed that Modi had asked him to mediate on Kashmir. India rejected that claim and said there can’t be any third party intervention on Kashmir.
Trump in August again said he would “certainly intervene if they (India and Pakistan) want me to”, but India reiterated Kashmir’s bilateral status.
India on August 5 scrapped Kashmir’s semi-autonomous status and made it a federally-administered territory. Parliament abrogated Constitution’s Article 370 that gave Jammu and Kashmir wide powers to make it own laws.
India’s action has drawn protests from Pakistan, where Khan is scheduled to give a speech to his nation about Kashmir.
