‘Any issues pertaining to J&K…’: India on Donald Trump's ‘Kashmir solution’ remark

A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi snubbed US President Donald Trump over his pitch to work with both India and Pakistan to find a solution to the Kashmir dispute, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) again rejected such a mediation, saying any issues have to be addressed by the two countries concerned “bilaterally”.

Addressing a briefing, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said, “We have a long-standing national position that any issues pertaining to the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir have to be addressed by India and Pakistan bilaterally. That stated policy has not changed.”

“Only issue with Islamabad on Kashmir is return of illegally occupied territories to India by Pakistan,” the foreign ministry said.

The MEA also officially rejected the “trade” offer that Donald Trump claimed to put forth before India and Pakistan, allegedly getting them to agree to an “immediate ceasefire”, saying “the issue of trade did not come up in any discussion.”

“From the time of Operation Sindhoor, which commenced on 7th May, till the understanding on cessation of firing and military action on 10th May, there were conversations between Indian and US leaders on the evolving military situation. The issue of trade did not come up in any of these discussions,” Randhir Jaiswal said.

Speaking on the Operation Sindoor, the foreign ministry said, “Terrorist infrastructure India destroyed were responsible not only for the deaths of Indians but of many other innocents around the world.” It added, “There is now a new normal, and sooner Pakistan gets used to it, the better.”

“Pakistan nurtured terrorism on an industrial scale.”

The MEA also underscored the stern actions against Pakistan after the Pahalgam terror attack, especially the suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty, saying that “India will keep the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance until Pakistan credibly and irrevocably abjures support for cross-border terrorism”.