United States President Donald Trump has offered to work with India and Pakistan to achieve a “solution” for the long-disputed Kashmir region, days after his administration brokered a ceasefire between the two nuclear-armed rivals.
“I will work with you, both to see if, after a ‘thousand years,’ a solution can be arrived at concerning Kashmir,” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform on Sunday.
The US president doubled down on a historically inaccurate assertion that India and Pakistan have been fighting for “a thousand years” or more.
The Muslim-majority territory has been contested since the partition of British India in 1947 into India and Pakistan. The two countries have fought three wars over the region. They both stake a claim over Kashmir as a whole but control parts of it.
India-administered Kashmir has seen decades of armed rebellion either for independence or a merger with Pakistan. New Delhi has deployed more than 700,000 soldiers to quash the rebellion.
The government of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has so far remained committed to a decades-old policy of refusing international mediation to find a solution to the Kashmir issue. In 2019, Modi’s government stripped India-administered Kashmir’s semiautonomy, further alienating the Kashmiris.
In its response, Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement on Sunday that it appreciates Trump’s willingness to resolve the Kashmir issue, which has implications for peace and security in South Asia and beyond.
“Pakistan reaffirms that any just and lasting settlement of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute must be in accordance with the relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions and must ensure the realization of the fundamental rights of the Kashmiri people, including their inalienable right to self-determination,” it said.
India’s leaders have not directly commented, but Indian media quoted unnamed government sources as saying no decision has yet been made to engage in talks on anything beyond the ceasefire.
India and Pakistan agreed to halt all fighting on Saturday, but Trump was the first person to announce the deal on his online platform.
In his post on Sunday, Trump took credit for the ceasefire.
“I am proud that the USA was able to help you arrive at this historic and heroic decision,” he wrote.
“While not even discussed, I am going to increase trade, substantially, with both of these great nations.”
The latest fighting between the two neighbours started when India attacked Pakistan in the aftermath of a shooting attack in India-administered Kashmir’s Pahalgam, which killed 26 civilians at a tourist location.
New Delhi again accused Pakistan of backing the “terrorist” groups that have launched many deadly attacks in India-administered Kashmir for decades.
Pakistan strongly denies the charges, maintaining that India has supported “terrorism” in its territory for many years and the Pahalgam attack was a false-flag operation to start a war.
The missile, drone and artillery attacks signified the most serious fighting between the two countries since they became nuclear-armed powers decades ago.
‘Neutral’ site for talks
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Saturday that in addition to the ceasefire, the two countries agreed to conduct broad talks over a host of issues at a “neutral” site soon.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday said his country believes in the path of peaceful negotiations to resolve problems around distribution of water resources and “all issues, including Jammu and Kashmir”.
But India has for decades refused to hold negotiations over the contested region as it has tried to strengthen its hold over it.
Mohmad Waseem Malla, a research fellow at the International Centre for Peace Studies in New Delhi, told Al Jazeera that Trump’s statement, though not entirely surprising, was “striking both in tone and substance” and likely to raise concerns in New Delhi.
“Any suggestion of third-party involvement, even in passing, crosses a red line for New Delhi – especially under the current government, which has redefined the country’s foreign policy and its emphasis on territorial sovereignty.”
He added that while Trump’s mention of boosting trade and promoting peace may seem conciliatory internationally, India’s domestic political climate and strategic priorities make it difficult to entertain such offers right now.
“The key will be how New Delhi calibrates its response given current sensitivities.”
The two countries also have yet to resolve their differences over water distribution as India’s suspension of its participation in the Indus Waters Treaty remains in place.
In response to the Pahalgam attack, India also expelled Pakistani diplomats, military advisers and visa holders; closed its main land border crossing and suspended trade; and launched a manhunt for the perpetrators.
Pakistan responded by kicking out Indian officials and citizens, closing its airspace to Indian flights and threatening to pull out of the Simla Agreement, which underpins the Line of Control in Kashmir.
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