Kashmir mediation: Trump backs off, S Jaishankar draws the line

India’s firm but polite rejection of the offer came when External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, after meeting US Secretary of State Michael R Pompeo in Bangkok, said on Friday that “any discussion on Kashmir, if at all warranted, will only be with Pakistan and only bilaterally”. The two ministers met on the sidelines of the 9th East Asia Summit Foreign Ministers meeting.

On July 22, in remarks that were promptly denied, Trump, in the presence of Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan, had said that Prime Minister Modi had asked him to play the role of mediator on Kashmir, and “if I can help, I would love to be the mediator” between India and Pakistan. A stunned Delhi had rebutted this an hour after Trump’s first remark saying “no such request has been made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi”.

Jaishankar, who played a key role in crafting that denial, tweeted Friday: “Held wide ranging discussions with @SecPompeo on regional issues. Have conveyed to American counterpart @SecPompeo this morning in clear terms that any discussion on Kashmir, if at all warranted, will only be with Pakistan and only bilaterally.”

While there was no official readout of the Jaishankar-Pompeo bilateral meeting from the MEA, US State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus did not mention anything on Kashmir. She said, “Secretary Michael R. Pompeo met in Bangkok, Thailand with Indian Minister of External Affairs Subrahmanyam Jaishankar on August 2. The two discussed our shared commitment to upholding the rule of law, freedom of navigation, and democratic values in the Indo-Pacific region. The Secretary reaffirmed the positive trajectory of the US-India strategic partnership.”

EXPLAINED | Reading Trump’s Kashmir offer

Sources said that Jaishankar Friday took the opportunity to reject any notion of mediation once again, since Trump had — just hours earlier — said that it was up to India and Pakistan to resolve the Kashmir issue but he was ready to assist if the two countries wanted him to help.

Last week, the MEA had sought to downplay Trump’s remark on Kashmir mediation, and had said that Delhi would like to “move on”, since both sides have clarified their positions.

Asked how would he “want to resolve the Kashmir issue”, Trump said in Washington early Friday, “If I can, if they wanted me to, I would certainly intervene…It’s really up to Prime Minister Modi (to accept the offer of mediation),” Trump told reporters while responding to a question on India not accepting his offer of mediation, adding “Have they accepted the offer or not?”.

“I think they are fantastic people — Khan and Modi — I mean. I would imagine they could get along very well but if they wanted somebody to intervene, to help them. and I spoke with Pakistan about that and I spoke frankly in India about it,” Trump said. “That’s been going on, that battle, for a long time,” he said Friday.

The offer for mediation by the US has been made in the past, and has been a standard template, although no serious attempt has been made in the last decade or so.

On July 22, denying Trump’s claim, MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar had said: “We have seen @POTUS’s remarks to the press that he is ready to mediate, if requested by India & Pakistan, on Kashmir issue. No such request has been made by PM @narendramodi to US President. It has been India’s consistent position that all outstanding issues with Pakistan are discussed only bilaterally. Any engagement with Pakistan would require an end to cross border terrorism. The Shimla Agreement & the Lahore Declaration provide the basis to resolve all issues between India & Pakistan bilaterally.”

Trump’s statement created a political firestorm given that Parliament is in session. Modi is also likely to travel to the US in September, and the two leaders are expected to meet during the upcoming G7 meet in France from August 24-26.

Less than 12 hours after the MEA spokesperson had denied Trump’s claim, Jaishankar had said in Parliament Tuesday he would like to “categorically assure” that the Prime Minister had made no such request. The categorical assurance had come about after 12 hours of cross-checking Indian as well US official records of discussions in Delhi and Washington.