Any discussion on Kashmir will be bilateral and only with Pakistan: Indian FM

Indian Minister of External Affairs Subrahmanyam Jaishankar on Friday rejected US President Donald Trump’s offer to mediate between Pakistan and India on Kashmir and said any discussion on the disputed region will take place bilaterally and only with Pakistan.

In a post on Twitter Jaishankar said, “Have conveyed to American counterpart Mike Pompeo this morning in clear terms that any discussion on Kashmir, if at all warranted, will only be with Pakistan and only bilaterally.”

Jaishankar’s statement comes in response to President Trump’s offer to mediate again between Pakistan and India on the Kashmir dispute.

“If they [Pakistan and India] wanted somebody to intervene or to help them,” Trump said in response to a question from a reporter at the White House about his earlier offer to mediate the Kashmir issue, “I spoke with Pakistan about that, and I spoke, frankly, to India about it. But that’s been going on, that battle, for a long time."

The US president was referring to his meeting last week with Prime Minister Imran Khan, where he had offered to help to resolve the Kashmir issue.

India had rejected the offer making it clear that there can't be any third-party intervention on the issue. However, Pakistan welcomed it.

“Well, that’s up to — it’s really up to Prime Minister Modi. And I met with Prime Minister Khan; I got along great with — I think they’re a fantastic people, Khan and Modi. I mean, I would imagine they can get along very well,” he said.

Trump added, “If I can — if they wanted me to, I would certainly intervene.”

Pakistan has often sought third-party mediation in the decades-old dispute which has cost tens of thousands of lives, but the idea is anathema to India, which insists the issue can only be resolved bilaterally.