India’s top diplomat said Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi told U.S. President Donald Trump that Delhi will never accept Pakistani third-party mediation.
Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said Modi communicated India’s long-term stance to Trump “strongly” during a call between the two leaders on Tuesday.
Trump has repeatedly proposed mediation between India and Pakistan to resolve the “Kashmir issue” as a four-day clash between nuclear-weapon neighbors in May.
The White House has not commented on India’s statement.
Mr Misri also said that Modi told Trump that during the conflict, negotiations were held at any level of the India-U.S. trade agreement or the US mediation between India and Pakistan. ”
Trump has repeatedly claimed that India and Pakistan ended the conflict after the U.S. ceasefire and used trade as leverage to get them to agree. Pakistan supports the U.S. brokerage ceasefire claim, but India denies it.
“The negotiations on the cessation of military operations were held directly between India and Pakistan under the existing channels established between the two armies,” Miseri said.
Trump told reporters last month: “I said, ‘Come on, we’re going to do a lot of deals with you [India and Pakistan]. Let’s stop it. Let’s stop it. If you stop it, we will trade. If you don’t stop it, we won’t make any transactions. ”
Delhi was eager to hold a trade deal with the Trump administration, and then paused for 90 days on July 9 when higher tariffs ended.
Kashmir is a controversial issue for India and Pakistan, who overall demand the region but only partially manage it. Decades of bilateral negotiations have led to no solution.
India regards Kashmir as an integral part of its territory and excludes any negotiations, especially through third parties.
Tensions between South Asian neighbors escalate to Pakistan after India Attacks on April 22 In Kashmir managed in India, 26 of them, mainly tourists, were killed. Islamabad denied the allegation.
In May, India launched air strikes on the so-called terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan, carrying out a four-day military operation from both sides of the border.
The two countries accused each other of targeting air bases and other military sites.
As the threat of conflict between the two nuclear-weapon states escalates further, Trump announced on May 10 that India and Pakistan have agreed to the “full and immediate ceasefire” promoted by the United States.
Later, in a post about Truth Social, he said: “I will work with both of you to see if a solution can be reached in Kashmir.” (The Kashmir problem only dates back to 1947).
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a statement on the same day saying that the two countries also agreed to “start dialogue on broad issues in neutral locations.”
On May 11, Trump repeatedly praised the leaders of India and Pakistan because it was “time to stop the current aggression”, adding that he was proud of the United States.
After Trump issued a statement on the ceasefire, Pakistan’s foreign minister said the two countries had reached the agreement, adding that “three strikes” were involved in diplomacy.
However, India has been denied any intervention from the United States.
Analysts say Trump’s very public statements about the mediation proposal in Kashmir have tested Delhi’s red line on the issue.
Delhi has been encouraging its Western partners not to regard India and Pakistan as equals. It also prevents Western leaders from visiting India and Pakistan at the same time.
However, Trump’s tweets usually equal India and Pakistan. This has caused some discomfort in Delhi’s diplomatic community, but analysts believe it is too early to say whether this will affect ongoing trade deal negotiations between Washington and Delhi.
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