India Snubs US Administration's Offer To Mediate With Pakistan

United Nations: India's stand that disputes with Pakistan must be resolved bilaterally and without third party mediation remains unchanged, the external affairs ministry said today in response to a US suggestion that President Donald Trump could play a role in de-escalating tension between India and Pakistan.

"The government's position for bilateral redressal of all India-Pakistan issues in an environment free of terror and violence hasn't changed. We of course expect the international community and organisations to enforce international mechanisms and mandates concerning terrorism emanating from Pakistan, which continues to be the single biggest threat to peace and stability in our region and beyond," said external affairs ministry spokesperson Gopal Baglay on Tuesday evening.  

US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley had at a press conference signaled an apparent change in her country's stance of not engaging in disputes between New Delhi and Islamabad, when she said, "It's absolutely right that this administration is concerned about the relationship between India and Pakistan and very much wants to see how we de-escalate any sort of conflict going forward." Ms Haley, a senior Indian-American member of the Trump Cabinet, said she "wouldn't be surprised if the President participates in that as well."

The ambassador had been asked if the US can make any efforts to get India and Pakistan together for peace talks as tensions between the two countries have risen recently. "We very much think that we should be proactive in the way that we are seeing tensions rise and conflicts start to bubble up and so we want to see if we can be a part of that," Ms Haley said.

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She said she expects the US administration to be in talks and try and "find its place to be a part of" de-escalating tensions, stating, "We don't think, we should wait till something happens."

The previous administration under President Barack Obama had maintained that the US has no role to play in disputes between India and Pakistan.

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India has consistently ruled out third party mediation, including by the UN or the US. Pakistan, on the other hand, constantly raises the Kashmir issue at various UN fora and has said it is ready to take the help of interlocutors from the UN and from Washington to help resolve its disputes with India.