India rejects US mediation offer on Kashmir, says talks will only be bilateral

While rejecting the mediation offer of the United States on Kashmir issue, Indian Minister of External Affairs Subrahmanyam Jaishankar on Friday clarified that any discussion on the disputed region will only take place bilaterally 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.”

Have conveyed to American counterpart @SecPompeo this morning in clear terms that any discussion on Kashmir, if at all warranted, will only be with Pakistan and only bilaterally.

— Dr. S. Jaishankar (@DrSJaishankar) August 2, 2019

Jaishankar’s statement comes following the reiteration of the offer by the US President Donald Trump during an interview at the White House a day earlier.

Answering a reporter’s question about his previous comments related to mediating on Kashmir issue, Trump said: “If they wanted somebody to intervene or to help them — and 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.”

Referring to his meeting with Prime Minister Imran Khan in Washington last week, the US president said, “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.”

Kashmir dispute is the long-standing issue between the neighbouring Pakistan and India since the partition of the subcontinent.