NEW YORK: US Presi­dent Donald Trump seems pass­ionate about mediating a truce between India and Pak­istan as he made four arb­itration offers in less than a week, urging the prime ministers of the two countries to “just work it out”.

In doing so, he also ignored India’s long-held position that New Delhi would only have bilateral talks with Pakistan on Kashmir and other issues and would never involve a third party.

“And with respect to Pakistan and India, we talked about Kashmir. And whatever help I can be, I said — I offered, whether it’s arbitration or mediation, or whatever it has to be, I’ll do whatever I can,” Mr Trump said at a news briefing on Wednesday.

Although the news conference was about a move in the US Congress to impeach him, President Trump availed this opportunity to explain why he was so keen to negotiate a truce between India and Pakistan.

“Because they’re at very serious odds right now, and hopefully that’ll get better,” he said.

At a presser, US president notes Pakistan and India are at very serious odds right now

The US president has also held three meetings with the two prime ministers in less than a week — starting with a public rally that he addressed with Indian PM Narendra Modi in Houston on Sunday. In New York, he held an hour-long meeting with Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday and had another meeting with Mr Modi on Tuesday where he said he also discussed the Kashmir issue with the Indian leader.

“You look at the two gentlemen heading those two countries — two good friends of mine — I said, ‘Fellas, work it out. Just work it out.’ Those are two nuclear countries. They’ve got to work it out,” said Mr Trump while referring to his meetings with the two prime ministers.

Tensions between India and Pakistan reached a feverish pitch on Aug 5, when New Delhi unilaterally annexed occupied Kashmir, revoking a constitutional guarantee that gave a special status to the disputed territory. India then imposed a strict lockdown and communications blackout in the region, severing internet and mobile telephone service across much of occupied Kashmir. The clampdown has continued for over 50 days.

At his joint news conference with Mr Khan on Monday, Mr Trump repeated his offer to mediate between Pakistan and India on the Kashmir issue. He first offered to mediate during a meeting with PM Imran in July and repeated his offer at least twice before coming to the UN General Assembly.

“If I can help, I will certainly do that,” he said. “If both (Pakistan and India) want, I am ready, willing and able to do it,” he said.

Later, Mr Trump desc­ribed Mr Modi’s intention to “launch a decisive war” aga­inst the “supporters of terro­rism” as “very aggressive” and instead urged India to seek a negotiated settlement to the Kashmir dispute. “There is always a sol­ution and I do believe that there is a solution,” he said.

Addressing a press conference along with Mr Modi on Tuesday, President Trump ignored at least a dozen questions from Indian journalists to condemn Pakistan’s alleged involvement in terrorism.

Asked “How do you make sure that you clamp down on terrorism from Pakistan?” the US leader said: “Well, I had a very good meeting with Prime Minister Khan. It was a long meeting and we discussed a lot.”

He then made his first — and the third this week — reference of the day to his mediation offer.

“And I think he’d like to see something happen that would be very fruitful, very peaceful. And I think that will happen, ultimately. I really believe that these two great gentlemen (Prime Minister Imran and Prime Minister Modi) will get together and work something,” he said.

Published in Dawn, September 27th, 2019