It is time to move on. The message is clear. President Donald Trump may have committed a faux pas by claiming that Modi had asked him to mediate in the Kashmir issue — a claim India has vehemently denied — but the relationship with America is more important and, for now, India is choosing to look the other way.
At a weekly media briefing, Raveesh Kumar, a spokesperson of the Ministry of External affairs, said “We have to move on.” He said that India and the United States were strategic partners with a “full-service” relationship.
The US State Department had earlier issued a clarification on the matter, Kumar added. While India has taken care to establish that Trump’s statement was not a fact by asking for records of the Trump-Modi meeting in Osaka, the mood at the moment seems to focus on other aspects of the relationship between the countries. “Our relationship stands on its own merit,’’ said Kumar. “I have mentioned that we have a broad convergence on issues.’’
In other words, the positives outweigh the current problem for India. In response to another query about whether India was disappointed that President Trump had not brought up terrorism with Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, Kumar said: “If you follow the meeting of the secretary of state...in each every statement there is reference to terrorism and counter terrorism.”
While India may be playing down the remark, the controversy is unlikely to die down soon. But, the incident has demonstrated India’s power and reach in America. After Trump’s statement, the State Department swung into action, toeing India’s line that Kashmir is a bilateral issue with Pakistan, adding that the US stands ready to assist.
Democrats on the House Foreign Affairs Committee reached out to Indian ambassador Harsh V. Shringla to apologise. “Everyone who knows anything about foreign policy in South Asia knows that India has consistently opposed third-party mediation [regarding] Kashmir,’’ tweeted Rep. Brad Sherman of California. Describing the statement as “amateurish and delusional,” Sherman wrote that Modi would never suggest such a thing.
Kumar, however, commented on Prime Minister Imran Khan’s admission that terrorist camps were operating in Pakistan, saying that it was not the first time that the leadership had “owned up’’ on terrorist camps. Pakistan should take “credible and irreversible’’ action, he added.
