In a sign that Islamabad’s efforts to internationalize the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu & Kashmir has failed to evoke the desired response, the Indian ambassador to Washington Harsh Vardhan Shringla has said US President Donald Trump’s offer to mediate between India and Pakistan was no longer on the table.
Shringla said Trump’s offer of mediation was dependent on both India and Pakistan accepting it, which the former has rejected saying the matter would be settled bilaterally, according to an overnight PTI report from Washington.
“President Trump has made it very clear that his offer to mediate on Jammu and Kashmir is dependent on both India and Pakistan accepting it. Since India has not accepted the offer of mediation, he has made it clear that this is not on the table anymore,” Shringla said in an interview to a US-based news channel, which PTI quoted.
On 22 July, Trump sprang a surprise when he said he would like to mediate between India and Pakistan and that his offer was based on a request from Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Trump’s comments came in the presence of Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan who on a visit to the US.
Trump’s offer had stunned India, given that Washington’s decades old policy has been to encourage India and Pakistan to resolve differences bilaterally. New Delhi insisted that Modi had made no such request and that all issues including the Kashmir dispute would be sorted bilaterally. A few days later, Trump had toned down his initial offer of talks, saying instead that he would “certainly intervene” between India and Pakistan on Kashmir if both countries wanted him to. Trump added that it was up to India and Pakistan to resolve the Kashmir issue but he stood ready to assist if the two South Asian neighbours wanted his help. This came after New Delhi lodged a protest with Washington.
In a meeting with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on 2 August in Bangkok, on the sidelines of a Southeast Asian foreign ministers’ meet, Indian foreign minister S Jaishankar said any discussion on Kashmir would only take place between India and Pakistan.
Besides this, India has been on the diplomatic offensive, briefing countries on the Indian parliament revoking a provision in its constitution that gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir, bifurcating the state into two union territories or regions directly administered by New Delhi. This came in the wake of Pakistan condemning the Indian move and saying that New Delhi was attempting to change the demography of the region by encouraging people from other parts of India to settle in Jammu and Kashmir.
Pakistan has been lobbying with countries like Malaysia, China and Saudi Arabia and organisations like the UN and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation to censure India’s move.
On its part, India has presented its reasons for its moves to the five permanent and 10 non permanent members of the UN Security Council in New Delhi, New York as well as in their respective capitals, a senior Indian official said.
Shringla too has been speaking to US State Department officials, informing that the increased troop deployment in Kashmir was temporary in nature.
New Delhi also has been in touch with countries as well as some international organizations on the issue, Indian foreign ministry spokesman Raveesh Kumar told reporters last week.
On Monday, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi was quoted as saying that it would not be easy for Islamabad to get the support of the UN Security Council as well as from the Muslim world against India’s decision revoke article 370 in J&K.
“Different people in the world have their own interests. India is a market of (over) billion people...A lot of people have invested there (India). We often talk about Ummah and Islam but the guardians of Ummah have also made investments there (India) and they have their own interests,” he was quoted as saying by PTI.
China, the all-weather ally of Pakistan, has objected to the formation of Ladakh as Union Territory by India. Jaishankar on a visit to Beijing earlier this week, however, clearly said “changes in a temporary provision of the Constitution of India and was the sole prerogative of the country.”
“The legislative measures were aimed at promoting better governance and socio-economic development. There was no implication for either the external boundaries of India or the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China. India was not raising any additional territorial claims,” Jaishankar told Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi adding that the “Chinese concerns in this regard were therefore misplaced.”
On rising tensions between India and Pakistan, Jaishankar said legislation passed by the Indian Parliament “had no bearing on Pakistan as it was an internal matter.” Moreover, “it did not impact the (de facto line of control) LoC (border). Where India Pakistan relations are concerned, Chinese side should base its assessment on realities,” Jaishankar said. “India, as a responsible power, had shown restraint in face of provocative Pakistani rhetoric and actions. India has always stood for normalisation of the ties in an atmosphere free of terror.”
