Donald Trump’s stunning claim that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had asked him to mediate on the Kashmir issue triggered a massive political row on Tuesday even as the government asserted that no such request was made to the US president and all issues will have to be resolved with Islamabad bilaterally.
The issue rocked both houses of Indian Parliament with the Opposition demanding Modi’s statement on Trump’s controversial remarks, holding that Kashmir is a bilateral issue and no third party can intervene.
As the opposition ramped up the attack on the government, India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said in the Rajya Sabha that Modi had never made any such request to Trump and stressed that all outstanding issues with Pakistan can be discussed only bilaterally.
“Any engagement with Pakistan will require an end to cross border terrorism,” he said, adding that the Simla and Lahore accords signed between India and Pakistan provide the basis for resolution of all issues bilaterally.
On Monday, as Pakistani PM Imran Khan met with US President Trump in White House, Trump remarked that US is willing to mediate into Kashmir issue between India and Pakistan.
Trump’s multiple statements in this meeting have received backlash and met with shock. Regarding Afghanistan, Trump said that he would have ended the war in Afghanistan in a matter of just 10 days, but since it would have wiped off “Afghanistan off the face of earth”, he didn’t want to go that route.
