US President Donald Trump on Tuesday urged better relations between India and Pakistan, proposing that the two countries “go out to dinner” together, while taking credit for mediating a ceasefire between them. But India has clarified that its recent cross-border counter-terror operations signal a change in approach, and that talks with Pakistan will be confined strictly to terrorism and the return of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).
Let’s not trade nuclear missiles, let’s trade goods, the good stuff that you produce. Perhaps we can even get them to get together a little bit, Marco, where they sit down and have a nice meal together,” Trump said, applauding US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vice President JD Vance for their participation.
A “historic ceasefire” was reportedly recently obtained by the two nuclear powers between them, Trump said. “We made a historic ceasefire a few days ago, millions could have been killed in a war between India and Pakistan,” he asserted. He also claimed to have employed trade as a leverage in the negotiations, a claim hotly refuted by Indian authorities.
“US Secretary Rubio called Jaishankar on May 8, 10 and Doval on May 10; there was no mention of trade in any conversation,” Indian government sources made clear, downplaying Trump’s claim.
India has once again asserted its consistent position that all issues regarding Jammu and Kashmir have to be addressed bilaterally between Islamabad and New Delhi. Without referring to the US President, Ministry of External Affairs official Randhir Jaiswal said, “We have a consistent national position that any matters related to the Indian Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir need to be resolved by India and Pakistan bilaterally. That said policy remains unchanged. As you know, the pending issue is the vacating of illegally occupied Indian territory by Pakistan.”
The strong messaging from New Delhi comes after its recent Operation Sindoor, where Indian forces carried out surgical strikes on terror camps in Pakistan and PoK at nine places. India has indicated that operations like these are the new normal given the cross-border terrorism.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi also made this point, saying, “Talks with Pakistan can only happen on terror and return of PoK, nothing else.”
