Trump Opens His Traps Once Again On Kashmir
Trump wants to visit India to boost his image prior to the American presidential elections. However Off and On, the fellow does not hesitate to enact a harakiri. Probably to please Pakistan, at an interaction with the press on Tuesday ahead of the meeting with Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan at Davos, Trump repeated his mediation offer on Kashmir once again.
In spite of so many rebuffs on the issue from India, Trump has again said “ We will discuss the situation in Kashmir. We can meditate on the issue. We are working with Pakistan on some borders and we were talking about Kashmir in relation to what is going on between Pakistan and India. If we can help, we certainly will be helping. We have been watching that and following it very very closely,” he said.
Trump had made similar offers last year. India had categorically rejected the offer to mediate. In one instance, Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a joint media interaction with Trump had said that Kashmir issue is a bilateral matter and India would not like a third party mediation.
Trump’s repeated reference to mediation offer is surprising in the view that the US State Department has repeatedly clarified the official position saying that Kashmir is a bilateral issue to be resolved between India and Pakistan. But Trump has continued to mention the niggling issue much to the consternation of New Delhi.
The US has recently warmed up to Pakistan in the backdrop of rising tension with Iran. It cleared some funds for Pakistan and started military training programmes halted in 2018. This was welcomed by the military establishment in Rawalpindi.
However, remarks made especially by Trump at the Davos meeting ahead of his India visit slated for later this year did not go down well with the government. Trump has used various forms of the word “mediation”, “arbitration”, “intervention” at least seven times in the past.
The first offer was in July 2019, when Imran Khan was visiting Washington DC. “If I can help, I would love to be a mediator,” Trump had said, in response to Khan’s appeal to use his good offices. On August 1 when confronted by journalists after a strong reaction from India, he said “If they wanted somebody to intervene or to help them,” he had said.
The third mention was on August 26, 2019, after his meeting with Prime Minister Modi at the G7 summit in Biarritz, France where he took a step back and said, “We spoke last night about Kashmir… And the Prime Minister (Modi) really feels he has it under control. I know they speak with Pakistan, and I’m sure that they will be able to do something that will be very good. We spoke about it last night at great length.”
On August 21 he said, “I think we are helping the situation but there are tremendous problems between those two countries… and I will do the best I can to meditate or do something.”
On September 9 when asked he said, “I’m willing to help them… I get along well with both countries very well. I’m willing to help if they want.”
On September 23, 2019, on the sidelines of the UNGA, he spoke to reporters with Imran Khan sitting beside him when he said, “I am ready, willing and able… It’s a complex issue and it’s been going on for a long time. But if they are both willing then I’m ready to do it.”
He repeated his offer two days later at a news conference on September 25 in New York, “I offered, whether it’s arbitration or mediation, or whatever it has to be, I’ll do whatever I can.”
Now if in anger or sheer frustration, India rejects the proposal of Trumps visit to India, then USA will lose a lot of face and there will be a big freeze in Indo US relations. Though keeping its cool, India just reiterated its stand on Kashmir following the remarks by US President Donald Trump where he offered to “help” resolve the issue on Tuesday on the sidelines of World Economic Forum being held in Davos.
“Kashmir is a bilateral issue and will have to be solved bilaterally,” MEA officials reiterated India’s stated position.
The official said the government’s stand is consistent that “talks and terror cannot go together. For any conversation to take place, Pakistan will have to shun terror first.”
