India denies Modi asked Trump to mediate Kashmir dispute
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India denied claims Tuesday that Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked U.S. President Donald Trump to mediate the decades-long Kashmir conflict with Pakistan, emphasizing that third-party involvement is unnecessary.

Trump made the claim Monday while speaking from the Oval Office where he hosted Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan.

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The president said that during a meeting two weeks ago Modi had asked, "'Would you like to be a mediator, or arbitrator?'" on Kashmir.

Demonstrators overturn a car during a protest against the attack on a bus that killed 44 Central Reserve Police Force personnel in Indian-administered Kashmir on February 14, 2019. /Reuters Photo

Demonstrators overturn a car during a protest against the attack on a bus that killed 44 Central Reserve Police Force personnel in Indian-administered Kashmir on February 14, 2019. /Reuters Photo

Raveesh Kumar, India's foreign ministry spokesman, responded: "We have seen President Trump's remarks to the press that he is ready to mediate, if requested by India and Pakistan, on the Kashmir issue. No such request has been made by Prime Minister to the U.S. 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," he added.

India and Pakistan divided the Muslim-majority Kashmir after their independence in 1947, but both claim it in its entirety.

An insurgency on the Indian side over the past three decades has left more than 70,000 dead, mainly civilians.

(Cover: U.S. President Donald Trump holds a bilateral meeting with India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi alongside the ASEAN Summit in Manila, Philippines November 13, 2017. /Reuters Photo)

Source(s): AFP