Trump’s ‘offer’
Trump’s ‘offer’
Editorial
Editorial

During a meeting with Prime Minister Imran Khan at Davos, US President Donald Trump once again reiterated the offer to help Pakistan and India for the resolution of decades-old Kashmir dispute. Whilst one really appreciates the very gesture of the US President for repeatedly talking about this bone of contention between two nuclear armed countries but the fact of the matter is that these statements are not providing any relief to the oppressed Kashmiri people who have been put under siege ever since 5th August last year.

During a meeting with Prime Minister Imran Khan at Davos, US President Donald Trump once again reiterated the offer to help Pakistan and India for the resolution of decades-old Kashmir dispute. Whilst one really appreciates the very gesture of the US President for repeatedly talking about this bone of contention between two nuclear armed countries but the fact of the matter is that these statements are not providing any relief to the oppressed Kashmiri people who have been put under siege ever since 5th August last year.

A post-meeting U.S. statement said the two leaders agreed to continue efforts to seek a lasting political settlement to the war in Afghanistan, America’s longest. It said the meeting also discussed, among other issues, ways to expand U.S.-Pakistan trade. “We’re getting along very well. I would say we’ve never been closer with Pakistan than we are right now,” Trump told reporters at the start of his meeting with Khan. This was the third interaction between the two leaders since Trump hosted Khan at the White House in July 2019, which underscores warming bilateral relations.

“It’s great to be with a very good friend of mine, the Prime Minister of Pakistan,” Trump remarked. The progress in Pakistan’s long, close and turbulent relationship with the United States stems from Islamabad’s cooperation in facilitating Washington’s ongoing peace talks with the Taliban insurgency in neighboring Afghanistan. While referring to escalation in tensions between Pakistan and India over their territorial Kashmir dispute, Trump said Tuesday he was ready to help the two South Asian nations, using his close ties with their leaders. “We’re talking about Kashmir and the relation to what’s going on with Pakistan and India. And if we can help, we certainly will be helping,” Trump said. “And we’ve been watching that and following it very, very closely.”

In previous meetings with Khan, Trump had also offered his mediation, though they were swiftly rejected by India. New Delhi insists Kashmir is strictly a bilateral dispute with Islamabad and requires no third-party intervention. Bilateral tensions have dangerously escalated since early August when the Indian government unilaterally scrapped the special autonomous status for the two-third part of Kashmir it administers. New Delhi has since placed millions of Kashmiris under security restrictions coupled with a communication blockade to deter violent protests against its controversial actions. The measures have drawn international criticism of the Indian government.

Islamabad, which administers the rest of the region, has rejected the Indian actions as a violation of International law. Pakistan says Kashmir is an internationally recognized disputed territory under decades-old United Nations Security Council resolutions, and neither country is authorized to alter the region’s status. The Kashmir dispute has sparked two of the three wars between India and Pakistan. It remains the primary source of regional tensions. Trump’s words for Pakistan suggest the beginning of a new era, especially after the landmark US-China trade deal. Earlier, the China-US trade deadlock not only choked economic growth the world over, it also damaged the prospects of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

China is Pakistan’s time-tested friend, and CPEC is being heralded as a game changer. But it is astonishing to see that senior US diplomat Alice Wells, who is in Pakistan, has cast aspersions on CPEC, putting aside all diplomatic norms, urging Islamabad to rethink its involvement with it. While her concerns about the lack of transparency are legitimate, it is time the government came up with open policies on all economic contracts.  Both the sides need to engage more deeply at different levels to translate that vision into reality. Greater economic and trade relations indeed will go a long way in building the requisite trust and strong partnership which is a win-win for the peoples of both the countries.