US President Donald Trump stirred a hornets’ nest when he said on Monday in the presence of Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had requested him to mediate in resolving the 71-year-old Kashmir dispute. Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar told Parliament that no such request was made by our PM during his meeting with Trump in Osaka, Japan.
Jaishankar said, ‘it has been India’s consistent position that all outstanding issues with Pakistan, including Kashmir, must be discussed only bilaterally’ and there was no scope for third party mediation.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and other opposition leaders demanded that the Prime Minister should himself clarify the position in Parliament. Rahul Gandhi tweeted to say: “A weak Foreign Ministry denial won’t do. PM must tell the nation what transpired in the meeting between him and POTUS (Trump)”
Opposition leaders should realize that if they demand a statement from the PM instead of relying on a categorical statement from our External Affairs Minister, the message would go out that our leaders do not trust our own government and instead believe in the remarks made by a foreign Head of State. who has been habitually telling lies.
Donald Trump is the President of the world’s most powerful nation. He seems to have the notion that he can mediate and solve any of the world’s problems, but the fact remains that Trump had given many statements in the past, which are at complete variance with truth.
Several leading US newspapers have published reports on how Trump had been telling lies over the years. The Washington Post published a report based on Fact Checker to say that Donald Trump is the US President who has told the largest number of lies. The report said, in the last 869 days, Trump made 11,769 remarks which were outright lies.. On an average, Trump has spoken more than a dozen lies a day. I’m not sure if this report is based on facts or part of the usual tirade of US media against Trump.
I am narrating these to underline the fact that there are Americans who do not believe in what their President says. Opposition leaders in India should realize this and stop making a mountain out of a mole hill. Prime Minister Modi never sought third party mediation on Kashmir, nor will he ever seek so.
The Kashmir issue has to be resolved bilaterally in accordance with the Shimla and Lahore agreements, which both India and Pakistan have signed. Any meaningful bilateral dialogue can start only when Pakistan stops aiding and abetting terrorists on its own soil.
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