Tribune News Service
New Delhi, September 24
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday made it clear that India wants “certain concrete steps” from Pakistan before resuming talks during his meeting with US President Donald Trump, who hoped that the two neighbours could “work out something” on the Kashmir issue.
Trump expressed confidence in PM Narendra Modi’s ability to tackle terrorism, again advising him to hold talks with Pakistan PM Imran Khan to resolve all issues bilaterally.
The focus of discussions was on the impact of terrorism on India. PM Modi made it clear that there was no hesitation in talking to Pakistan, but Islamabad must must take certain enabling steps, regretting that it had spurned his earlier peace overtures.
Trump praised PM Modi for his governance skills, thought he could be the “father of India” and compared him with rockstar Elvis Presley for his ability to mesmerise the crowds” while talking to the media.
Trump responded to questions on Pakistan’s sustained sponsorship of violent extremism in India with a vote of confidence in PM Modi’s ability to tackle it. “The Indian Prime Minister has given a loud and clear message to Pakistan,” he said, adding that “PM Modi knows how to deal with it.”
However, a trade deal between India and the US proved elusive though Trump said: “I think, very soon we will have a trade deal,” Trump said. But the brief meeting with him on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York enabled PM Modi to outline the devastation India has suffered from cross-border terrorism that has led to the loss of 42,000 lives in the past 30 years.
PM Modi informed Trump that he had reached out to Pakistan, but to no avail. In this regard, he mentioned his “unique” trip to Lahore in December 2015 with minimum security, but the payback was an attack on the Pathankot airbase whose perpetrators Pakistan had not brought to justice.
Briefing the media after the 30-minute meeting, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale tried to play down the trade part of the discussions even though Commerce Minister Piyush Goel had especially flown in from India and has engaged with US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer over a couple of days.
Before beginning delegation-level talks, PM Modi underlined the importance of India’s investment plans of $ 2.5 billion in a US gas major which will have a multiplier effect of $60 billion in trade and create 50,000 jobs.
Aware that his meeting would be benchmarked with that with Imran Khan, PM Modi pointed out that in four months since Modi 2.0, he had already met the US President thrice. “This is a relationship of ease and continuous engagement and that’s an adequate signal for the world,” he observed.
Imran dons mediator’s role in West Asia
NEW DELHI: Pak PM Imran Khan donned the role of a mediator in West Asia on being requested to do so by US President Donald Trump. Khan told the media in New York that after theTrump proposal, he immediately got in touch with Iran President Hassan Rouhani. He urged the world to look beyond markets because “if this (Kashmir) goes wrong, the effects would go way beyond the borders of the two countries. Once the curfew is lifted, there will be a massacre,’’ he said.
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September 24, 2019
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