New York, July 24
Senior US administration official Larry Kudlow has made a perfunctory defence of President Donald Trump's credibility, but would not go into the specifics of his claim about being asked to mediate on Kashmir.
Asked by a reporter on Tuesday about India's denials of Trump's stunner that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had asked him to be a "mediator or arbitrator" on Kashmir, Kudlow shot back, "That's a very rude question in my opinion."
Kudlow, who is the director of the National Economic Council asserted, "The President doesn't make anything up."
But beyond that, he would not get into the specifics of whether Modi had indeed asked for Trump's intervention and if he was telling the truth about it.
He said, "I am going to stay out of that. It's out of my lane. It's for (Secretary of State) Mr (Mike) Pompeo, (National Security Adviser) Mr (John) Bolton and the President. So I am not going to comment on that."
Trump had said on Monday, "I was with Prime Minister Modi two weeks ago, and we talked about this subject. And he actually said, 'Would you like to be a mediator or arbitrator?' I said, 'Where?' He said, 'Kashmir'."
The Trump administration official in charge of South Asia, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Alice Wells, has herself walked back on the President's statement, reaffirming it was a bilateral matter.
She tweeted, "While Kashmir is a bilateral issue for both parties to discuss, the Trump administration welcomes Pakistan and India sitting down and the United States stands ready to assist."
Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar has denied in Parliament that Modi had made any such request at his meeting with Trump in Osaka on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Tokyo.
He said on Tuesday, "I assure the House categorically that no such request has been made by the Prime Minister to the US President. It has been India's consistent position that all outstanding issues with Pakistan are discussed only bilaterally. Any engagement with Pakistan would require an end to cross-border terrorism."
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, "It is true that talks between the US President and our Prime Minister took place but there was no talk on the Kashmir issue.
"I also want to clarify that there is no question of accepting anybody's mediation on Kashmir issue," he added.
Trump is known for playing loose with facts and making things up on the go to dramatise matters.
A whole fact-checking industry has risen around his almost daily flow of verbiage of dubious veracity.
(Arul Louis can be reached at [email protected])
Pak media praises Imran over Trump comment
After an offer of mediation on the Kashmir issue by US President Donald Trump, the Pakistani media is showering praise on Prime Minister Imran Khan. Khan's US visit is being dubbed as a diplomatic victory for the country.
Urdu daily 'Jang' published an editorial on Khan's US visit on Wednesday with title 'Imran ka Trump card' (Imran's Trump card). The newspaper has written that the private meeting between Trump and Khan, and interactions between delegations of both the nations have represented Pakistan's intention in a way that could be dubbed as "success".
However, the Kashmir matter was not mentioned in the joint statement issued after the meeting of both leaders.
Ignoring the fact, the newspaper wrote: "The most important thing that was heard across the world was on television... the offer of mediation by Trump between India and Pakistan on the Kashmir issue".
"After being satisfied with Trump's response that the Indian Prime Minister already had a word with Trump, Khan immediately accepted his (Trump's) offer," the editorial said.
The newspaper wrote in its editorial: "Displaying defiance, the Indian Foreign Ministry has refuted Trump's statement. It is beyond imagination that the leader of a superpower could ever give a contradictory statement on Modi and Kashmir".
It noted that the US has taken due note of the "disorder" in Kashmir.
Another newspaper Nawa-i-Waqt has written that while Trump's comment suited Pakistan and that Imran's US visit scored a diplomatic win, Pakistan "should not dilute its stand on Kashmir."
The paper sought to caution the government that the US stance of improvement or deterioration in ties should be viewed from the point of view of that country's national interests.
