Trump Drops Kashmir Bomb On India

This is how Indian media is reacting to Trump’s mediation offer

Islamabad (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News – 23rd July, 2019) US President Donald Trump has offered to serve as a mediator between Pakistan and India in their dispute over Kashmir.

While Trump’s offer is being welcomed in Pakistan, the Indian media is quite upset.

An Indian tv channel even ran the headline ‘Trump dropped Kashmir bomb on India’.

US President Donald Trump on Monday said India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged him to mediate on the decades-old Kashmir dispute with Pakistan, and he indicated that he was prepared to do so.

"He (Modi) actually said, 'Would you like to be a mediator or arbitrator?' I said, 'Where?' He said, 'Kashmir.' Because this has been going on for many, many years," Trump said at the White House, where he was hosting Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday.

"If I can help, I would love to be a mediator," the US president said, a statement that appears to signal a shift in the US policy that the Kashmir issue must be solved bilaterally.

In response, Prime Minister Imran Khan, who is on his first trip to Washington, told Trump he would have "the prayers a billion people in the Sub-continent" if he was able to resolve the Kashmir issue.

He said he was hoping that the president would be able to "bring the two countries together," saying the United States could play the "most important role." Trump said that he would love to be a mediator, adding that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had asked him to play a role.

Indian External Affairs Ministry spokesman Raveesh Kumar while commenting on Trump’s offer said that there was no official request on the part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for US mediation and the conflict should be settled in a bilateral format.

"We have seen @POTUS's remarks to the press that he is ready to mediate, if requested by India & Pakistan, on Kashmir issue. No such request has been made by PM @narendramodi to US President,” he wrote in a tweet.

“It has been India's consistent position that all outstanding issues with Pakistan are discussed only bilaterally. Any engagement with Pakistan would require an end to cross border terrorism. The Shimla Agreement & the Lahore Declaration provide the basis to resolve all issues between India & Pakistan bilaterally," Kumar wrote on Twitter.