Washington (AFP), Aug 20: United States President Donald Trump on Monday spoke with Prime Minister Imran Khan and Indian premier Narendra Modi, urging a reduction of tension between India and Pakistan over the Kashmir issue.
In a post shared on Twitter early on Tuesday morning, Trump said he had spoken to his “two good friends” — Prime Minister Imran and Prime Minister Modi — regarding “trade, strategic partnerships, and most importantly, for India and Pakistan to work towards reducing tensions in Kashmir”.
“A tough situation, but good conversations!” he added.
In a statement regarding Trump’s call with Modi, White House spokesperson Hoga Gidley on Monday had said: “The US president conveyed the importance of reducing tensions between India and Pakistan and maintaining peace in the region.”
“The two leaders [Trump and Modi] further discussed how they will continue to strengthen US-India economic ties through increased trade, and they look forward to meeting again soon.”
Later on Monday, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said at a press conference that US President Trump made a call to Prime Minister Imran Khan today after his talk with Modi and discussed prevailing situation in occupied Kashmir.
Qureshi, in a press briefing in Islamabad on Monday, said Trump called Modi after his talk with Prime Minister Imran on Aug 16, in which the premier had taken the US leader into confidence prior to the United Nations Security Council meeting on occupied Kashmir.
Trump in the call today (Monday) expressed desire in lowering tensions between Pakistan and India, said Qureshi.
“Prime Minister Khan told Trump that a curfew has been in place across Indian-occupied Kashmir for the last 15 days. The prime minister had said that as per our information, thousands of Kashmiris including
leadership had been detained and several of them had also been sent out of Indian-occupied Kashmir,” he said while talking about the latest discussion between the two leaders.
According to the foreign minister, the premier had told Trump that as per his viewpoint, the situation in occupied Kashmir merited visits of observers from human rights organisations.
He quoted the prime minister as saying that India should uphold international law and its commitments to the international community.
“We are foreseeing a humanitarian crisis [in occupied Kashmir] in the making,” he said, adding that the curfew in the region should be lifted and restrictions ended.
