After US President Donald Trump stirred the hornet’s nest by offering to work with India and Pakistan for a “solution” on Kashmir, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, in first remarks since Trump’s comments, said Thursday that India’s relations and dealings with Pakistan will be “strictly bilateral”, which has been a national consensus for many years and there is “absolutely no change” in that consensus. “To me things are fairly clear. So, let me take this opportunity to spell out our position. One, where Pakistan is concerned, our relations, our dealings with them will be bilateral, and strictly bilateral. That has been a national consensus for many years, and there is absolutely no change in that consensus that dealings with Pakistan will be bilateral,” Jaishankar said on the sidelines of an event in New Delhi. He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made it “very clear” that any talks with Pakistan will be only on terror. “.Pakistan has a list of terrorists, who need to be handed over. They have to shut down terrorist infrastructure, they know what to do,” he said. He said New Delhi is “prepared to discuss” with Islamabad what is to be done on terrorism. On the Kashmir issue, he said, “Only thing that remains to be discussed on Kashmir is the vacation of illegally occupied Indian territory in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, we are open to discuss it with Pakistan… The government position is very, very clear.” Jaishankar’s statement follows the one on Tuesday by Randhir Jaiswal, spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs. Jaiswal said, “We have a longstanding national position that any issues pertaining to the Indian Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir have to be addressed by India and Pakistan bilaterally. That stated policy has not changed. As you are aware, the outstanding matter is the vacation of illegally occupied Indian territory by Pakistan.” In posts on Truth Social last Saturday, Trump offered to work with India and Pakistan for a “solution” on Kashmir, while crediting Washington for helping the two nations arrive at the “historic and heroic decision” of stopping the conflict. Jaishankar said the UN Security Council had underlined the need to hold the perpetrators of the Pahalgam terror attack accountable, and on May 7 morning, “we held them accountable through Operation Sindoor”.
