Washington DC, July 25: United States President Donald Trump “does not make things up”, a senior presidential adviser, Larry Kudlow, said on Wednesday, dismissed the Indian claim Prime Minister Narendra Modi had never requested the US president to mediate between India and Pakistan on the Kashmir issue.
According to Dawn news reports, while expressing deference to India’s position that Kashmir issue was a bilateral matter, the US state department reiterated Trump’s offer to mediate between both nations in getting the longstanding spat resolved.
“The Trump administration welcomes Pakistan and India sitting down and the United States stands ready to assist,” said a State Department official.
US department of state has on Monday said the Kashmir issue was a bilateral matter concerning both India and Pakitan and that the United States was “ready to assist”, a few hours after President Donald Trump said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had invited him as a third-party mediator over the Kashmir issue.
Earlier on Monday, the US president has said Modi asked him to act as a third-party mediator in order to resolve the Kashmir issue.
Trump, who has hosted Pak’s Prime Minister Imran Khan yesterday at the White House, said: “So I was with Prime Minister Narendra Modi two weeks ago and we talked about this subject. And he actually said, would you actually like to be a mediator or arbitrator? Did I say, where? He said Kashmir because this has been going for many, many years. I was surprised at how long it has been going on.”
In a swift response, India, soon after Trump’s comments on Kashmir, clarified no such request from New Delhi has been made to the US president by Modi.
External affairs minister (EAM) S Jaishankar on Tuesday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had made no invitation to Trump to act as a third-party mediator on Kashmir issue between India and Pakistan, in the midst of massive controversy over America’s claim.
Also read:
- India debunks US President Trump’ claim on Kashmir issue
- India’s EAM S Jaishankar denies PM Modi requesting for US Mediation to resolve Kashmir issue with Pakistan