Fearing a regional crisis from India’s massive military escalation in Kashmir, Prime Minister Imran Khan has urged President Donald Trump to intervene toward a resolution to the longstanding dispute as per his offer to do mediate between the two nuclear-armed neighbors.
“President Trump offered to mediate on Kashmir. This is the time to do so as situation deteriorates there and along the LOC with new aggressive actions being taken by Indian occupation forces,” Khan wrote in a Twitter post as reports said New Delhi moved around 40,000 additional troops into the disputed territory.
“This has the potential to blow up into a regional crisis,” cautioned the Pakistani leader, who secured President Trump’s diplomatic support for Pakistan’s position on international mediation towards a settlement of the Kashmir dispute.
The two leaders met at the White House on July 22 and this week President Trump renewed his offer to mediate between the two South Asian nuclear powers, who have gone to several wars and conflicts over the UN-recognized dispute.
Trump narrated his conversation with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Kashmir in a Press interaction on top of the Oval Office meeting with the Pakistani leader.
“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.’”
Trump continued:
“If I can help, I would love to be a mediator. … If you want me to mediate or arbitrate, I would be willing to do that.”
Trump has showered praise on Pakistan for its role in supporting his plan to conclude the 18-year-old conflict in Afghanistan, a goal he wants to achieve before 2020 reelection.
In the past, Pakistan has argued that peace in Kashmir and Afghanistan are interlinked.
But Prime Minister Modi, a follower of exclusivist Hindutva ideology, who is widely seen as anti-Muslim, has rejected the idea of a U.S. mediation on Kashmir.
According to Indian media reports is planning to change the constitutional status of Jammu and Kashmir, which under Article 35 of Indian Constitution enjoys a special status, different from Indian states, which are part of India.
Pakistan has also accused India of using banned cluster ammunition in targeting Kashmiri civilians living on the Pakistani side of the Himalayan territory divided along a Line of Control.
New Delhi has accused Islamabad of allowing cross-border militancy into Indian-controlled Kashmir, a charge Islamabad has brushed aside, calling it an Indian attempt to hide its massacres in Kashmir.
Meanwhile, Kashmiri leaders including Syed Ali Gilani, have expressed fears that Modi may be planning to carry out a genocide of the Kashmiris with his latest military buildup in the valley.
Pakistan has strongly condemned the Indian military escalation. Modi, who is now into his second term as prime minister, has followed an aggressive policy toward Kashmir, drawing both domestic and international condemnation. The New York Times termed the use of pellet guns against Kashmiri protestors as the biggest campaign to turn people blind.
“I condemn India’s attack across LOC on innocent civilians & it’s use of cluster munitions in violation of int humanitarian law and it’s own commitments under the 1983 Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons. UNSC must take note of this international threat to peace & security,” Imran Khan said in a series of tweets.
“It is time to end the long night of suffering for the people of Occupied Kashmir. They must be allowed to exercise their right to self-determination according to UN SC resolutions. The only road to peace & security in South Asia runs through a peaceful & just settlement of Kashmir,” Khan wrote, reiterating Islamabad’s position.
