External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on Friday tweeted saying he had conveyed to his U.S. counterpart Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that “any discussion on Kashmir, if at all warranted, will only be with Pakistan and only bilaterally”.
The two met on the sidelines of the ongoing ASEAN 2019 summit in Thailand.
The statement comes on the heels of U.S. President Donald Trump expressing his wish to provide mediation for Indian and Pakistan on the Kashmir issue.
“I would imagine they could get along very well, but if they wanted somebody to intervene, to help them and I spoke with Pakistan about that and I spoke frankly in (sic) India about it,” Mr. Trump had told reporters.
He was referring to his last week’s meeting with Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, where he had offered to help resolve the Kashmir issue saying Prime Minister Modi had asked him to.
The MEA had denied that statement , while the U.S. State department had said that Kashmir was bilateral issue.
