Trump claim on Modi, J&K is hard to believe

US President Donald Trump’s shocking observation that over three weeks ago Prime Minister Narendra Modi had requested him — when the two met for the G-20 summit in Osaka — to mediate between India and Pakistan on the very sensitive subject of Kashmir is extremely hard to believe.

Mr Modi is the most US-inclined leader this country has had. Invited to address the US Congress in his first term, he passionately argued for India overcoming the “hesitations of history” and forging strong bonds with America. Even so, it baffles the imagination that he should urge Washington to mediate on the Kashmir question.

For decades the emphatic Indian position has been that all differences with Pakistan, including on Kashmir, must necessarily be resolved bilaterally. This  understanding was incorporated in the Shimla Agreement signed between Indira Gandhi and Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto as well as the Lahore Declaration signed between Atal Behari Vajpayee and Nawaz Sharif.

Politically speaking, in India, there is across-the-board endorsement for the proposition of bilateral settlement of all differences with Pakistan. Pakistan, on the other hand, has endeavoured since Partition to internationalise the Kashmir issue, which it misleadingly calls a “dispute”, despite signing the Shimla accord and the Lahore Declaration.

Therefore, it is all the more galling that Mr Trump should make his ludicrous claim about Mr Modi seeking his intercession even as he was holding talks with visiting Pakistan PM Imran Khan in Washington on Tuesday.

After becoming President, Mr Trump had attacked Islamabad for offering it only “lies and deceit” in return for billions of dollars in aid to fight terrorism. Since then, much seems to have changed as the Trump administration is trying hard to either leave Afghanistan wholesale or retain a only minimum presence there. For reasons of geography, the US needs Pakistan’s unstinted help in achieving this objective. As such, Washington’s appeasement of Islamabad of late is no secret. A few weeks ago, to curry favour with Pakistan, the US had declared the Balochistan Liberation Organisation a terrorist outfit.

After Mr Trump’s remarks about the Indian PM virtually entreating him to mediate on Kashmir were heard on television, the Indian spokesman rejected its presumed veracity in a statement late on Tuesday night. This was necessary as a first step. However, New Delhi must go well beyond this to make its point beyond a shadow of doubt. Parliament is in session. An unambiguous statement by the Prime Minister is called for on the floor of the House so that all misgivings may be quelled.

Since the Indian stand on Kashmir remains unchanged, the PM must reiterate bilateralism from the floor of Parliament so that Pakistan isn’t left in any doubt about it merely because the US President’s gratuitous observations came in the course of his official conversation with the Prime Minister of Pakistan.