His mediation rebuked by New Delhi, Trump says India & Pakistan can do ‘something good’ on Kashmir

Weeks after his pushy offer to act as mediator raised ire in New Delhi, wannabe Kashmir peacemaker Donald Trump now says India and Pakistan can fix the conflict on their own and produce something that “will be very good.”

Trump met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday, announcing what could be a U-turn on Washington’s India-Pakistan policy, or may possibly just be a face-saving effort.

“We spoke last night about Kashmir, Prime Minister [Modi] really feels he has it under control,” Trump said.

They speak with Pakistan and I’m sure that they’ll be able to do something that will be very good.

Sitting alongside Trump, Modi didn’t miss the opportunity to cement his stance on the Kashmir conflict: “All issues between India and Pakistan are bilateral in nature, that is why we don’t bother any other country regarding them.”

Trump has consistently tried to offer the use of his deal-making and reconciliation talents to the nuclear-armed rivals. Pakistan enthusiastically welcomed the idea, with Prime Minister Imran Khan promising that the American president will have “the prayers [of] a billion people” in both countries if he is able to end the decades-long animosity.

In sharp contrast, the mediation proposal ignited a political storm in India, where top officials have made it clear that India needs no third party to talk peace in Kashmir. In the meantime, New Delhi denied receiving an actual mediation offer from Washington.

India has long been skeptical over third-party interventions in the conflict, expressing frustration over attempts by the UN and numerous US administrations to try and fix the rival claims over the Himalayan territory.

“India and Pakistan were together before 1947 and I’m confident that we can discuss our problems and solve them together,” Modi reiterated this Monday.

Kashmir was split between the two countries under a controversial British partition plan, which has provoked bitter sectarian conflicts between Hindus and Muslims.

Both nuclear-armed powers claim Kashmir in full and have repeatedly fought over it, most recently in February.

Recently, India made a power move by stripping its Jammu and Kashmir state of the autonomy status guaranteed by the post-colonial constitution. The measure put communities on lockdown and provoked outrage in Pakistan, but New Delhi said it was necessary to quell terrorism and separatist militancy in the region.

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