External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar is in the Thailand capital Bangkok to attend a number of conferences, including the ASEAN-India Ministerial Meeting, the 9th East Asia Summit Foreign Ministers' Meeting, the 26th ASEAN Regional Forum and the 10th Mekong Ganga Cooperation Ministerial Meeting.
Trump was referring to his last week's meeting with Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, wherein he offered to help resolve the Kashmir issue.India has rejected the offer, while Pakistan has welcomed his statement. He said the Indian Prime Minister asked him to intervene into Kashmir issue during their bilateral meeting in Japan in June on the sideline of the G-20 Summit. India quickly denied it and said the Kashmir issue was never discussed between Modi and Trump.
A senior government functionary on Tuesday rejected suggestions of immediate scrapping of Article 35A, which provides special rights to Jammu and Kashmir, and termed as "routine" the deployment of soldiers, saying it was done to relieve troops posted there.
The US President on Monday stunned the world by saying that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan, sought his help in resolving the Kashmir issue.
The Shimla Agreement was signed in order to enable good, and neighbourly, relations between India and Pakistan; giving up conflicts and focussing on the establishment of long-lasting friendship, peace and cooperation between them.
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Tuesday that he was surprised by India's reaction to US President Donald Trump's offer of mediation in the Kashmir issue.
A meeting of opposition leaders was held in Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad's chamber in Parliament. They called for suspension of all business in the House and sought explanation from the PM in both the Houses on Trump's statements on Kashmir mediation.
Imran Khan's statement came hours after Trump offered to be the "mediator" between India and Pakistan on the Kashmir issue as the two leaders met at the White House where they discussed a host of issues, including the Afghan peace process.
For more than a decade, the US has consistently insisted that Kashmir is a bilateral issue between India and Pakistan and it is for the two countries to decide on the nature and scope of the dialogue.
The Central government has, however, rebuffed Trump's offer to mediate on the Kashmir issue, saying that Modi had never made such a request to him, and stressed that all outstanding issues with Pakistan are "discussed only bilaterally".
US President Donald Trump on Monday said that he would love to act as a mediator between India and Pakistan over the Kashmir issue.
The people of Jammu and Kashmir and their leadership wants that we should become a bridge of friendship between the two countries.
"I believe that Modi has started taking strong steps in Kashmir. Like Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel, who brought about the unconditional merger of 542 princely states in the Indian Union, Modi will also bring the Kashmir question to an end."
Omar Abdullah, along with his party leaders and activists, staged a sit-in on the highway near Pantha Chowk area in the outskirts of the city demanding revocation of the order.
The home minister's comments come almost a week after former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah, in a speech in Kashmir's Bandipora, pitched for the revival of the posts of prime minister and president for Jammu and Kashmir
Pompeo cited the India-Pak dispute and the Israeli conflict as recent examples of America's negotiating diplomatic skills.
Asserting that Pakistan was serious to develop peaceful ties with all its neighbours, Khan claimed India was not ready to hold talks with the country due to the upcoming general elections.
In a separate statement, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmmod Qureshi said the international community should take cognizance of the alleged human rights violations in Kashmir.
Pakistan's foreign minister further described Pakistan as a victim of terrorism and said his country is willing to sit with India to discuss all issues, including terrorism.
“We regret that reference has been made to the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. Our views on the matter have been made abundantly clear in the Council,” India's Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva told HRC.
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