New Delhi, Jul 22 (UNI) India on Monday late evening outright rejected the possibility of US President Donald Trump ‘mediating’ to solve India-Pakistan dispute and asserted that “no such request” has been made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Mr Trump.
“We have seen @POTUS’s remarks to the press that he is ready to mediate, if requested by India and Pakistan, on Kashmir issue. No such request has been made by PM Narendra Modi to the US President,” MEA spokesman Raveesh Kumar tweeted.
“It has been India’s consistent position that all outstanding issues with Pakistan are discussed only bilaterally,” he said and also made it clear that any engagement with Pakistan would require an end to cross border terrorism.
“The Shimla Agreement and the Lahore Declaration provide the basis to resolve all issues between India and Pakistan bilaterally,” the MEA spokesman said.The candid tweets from Indian foreign ministry spokesman comes after row over President Trump’s response to Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan asking for support to push peace talks between India and Pakistan.”I met Indian PM Modi two weeks ago.. he asked me, do you want to be mediator, arbitrator.. .I asked where? He said Kashmir,” Mr Trump is heard saying in a video that has gone viral.
The conflict between India and Pakistan dates back to 1947 and both the countries have fought wars and had major conflict on this in 1999.The Modi government has suspended diplomatic comprehensive dialogues between two countries saying Pakistan needs to ‘end’ cross border terrorism first.
