New Delhi: US President Donald Trump’s claim that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had asked him to mediate on Kashmir with Pakistan led to the opposition raising questions about whether India had changed its stance on third-party mediation in the dispute.
On Monday, Trump met Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan for the first time after both of them were elected.
Answering a question from the media on Kashmir, Trump claimed that Modi had asked him to mediate on Kashmir.
“So, I was with Prime Minister Modi two weeks ago and we talked about this subject. And he actually said, would you actually like to be a mediator or arbitrator? I said, where? He said Kashmir,” Trump stated.
India completely denied Trump’s claim. “No such request has been made by PM Narendra Modi to US President,” tweeted MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar.
Congress party spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said that Trump’s claim was “deeply disturbing and distressing”.
“No Indian PM has ever dared to breach the cardinal principle of ‘no third party mediation’ in terms of 1972 Simla Agreement,” he tweeted.
India has never accepted third party mediation in Jammu & Kashmir!
To ask a foreign power to mediate in J&K by PM Modi is a sacrilegious betrayal of country’s interests.
Let PM answer to the Nation!https://t.co/17wRVtRSMD
— Randeep Singh Surjewala (@rssurjewala) July 22, 2019
Before India’s official denial, the Congress spokesperson had termed Trump’s claim a “sacrilegious betrayal of country’s interests”. “Let PM answer to the Nation!” he added.
Following MEA’s response, he reiterated, “Why is PM mum?”
Incidentally, Congress MP and former minister of state for external affairs Shashi Tharoor had tweeted that Trump likely doesn’t have “the slightest idea about what he’s talking about”.
“He has either not been briefed or not understood what Modi was saying or what India’s position is on 3rd-party mediation. That said, MEA should clarify that Delhi has never sought his intercession,” he posted on the social media website.
He also posted the link to a 2016 media report with the comment, “In fact, he has already said the same thing in 2016!”
At a 2016 interview with the Hindustan Times, then Republican presidential candidate Trump had volunteered to be a mediator between India and Pakistan. “I think if they wanted me to, I would love to be the mediator or arbitrator.”
But while Trump has previously expressed willingness to be a peacemaker, the US president has never previously stated that India has asked for mediation on Kashmir.
Is Govt of India going to call @realDonaldTrump a liar or has there been an undeclared shift in India’s position on third party involvement in #Kashmir?
— Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) July 22, 2019
In his initial remarks, former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah had also expressed scepticism about Trump’s trustworthiness. The National Conference leader added that it would be crucial to see if the Indian government would call Trump a “liar” or “has there been an undeclared shift in India’s position on third party involvement in Kashmir”.