‘Time to move on’ after Trump-J&K row: MEA

New Delhi: It’s “time to move on” from the controversy after US President Donald Trump’s recent remarks, New Delhi said on Thursday, pointing to a “clarification” issued by the US state department that there was “no change” in the US position on the Kashmir issue. In another turn of events, external affairs minister S. Jaishankar has cancelled his planned visit to Brazil for the Brics foreign ministers’ meeting, with the MEA saying it was due to “parliamentary commitments”. The MEA said minister of state for road transport and former external affairs MoS Gen. V.K. Singh (Retd) would represent India as he had previously dealt with Latin American developments.

Referring to the comments reportedly made by Pakistan PM Imran Khan on the presence of terrorists in his country, the MEA spokesman said it was a “glaring admission”, but added this was not the first time that the Pakistani leadership had “owned up” to the presence of terror camps and terrorists in Pakistan.

In comments that had rocked Parliament and which were swiftly denied by India, US President Donald Trump had claimed Prime Minister Narendra Modi had asked him to mediate on the Kashmir issue. External affairs minister S. Jaishankar had on Tuesday told Parliament that Mr Modi had not made any such request to the US President.

Pointing to the statement by the minister in Parliament, MEA spokesman Raveesh Kumar also said: “The US state department has issued a clarification that there is no change in their position (on Kashmir)... There is a strong strategic relationship (between India and the US). There are high-tech defence tieups. It is time to move on. Our relationship remains multi-faceted. We have broad and deep convergence.”