There is a need for prudence when expressing joy and gratitude regarding US President Donald Trump’s third offer to mediate the Kashmir issue.
President Trump initially made a grand promise to resolve the Kashmir dispute on July 22, 2019, during his first presidential term. However, in the four months since his re-election, no verbal, diplomatic, or practical steps have materialized.
Recordings of President Trump’s public assurances to resolve the Kashmir dispute are still preserved within the US White House archives.
Trump’s initial offer to mediate the Kashmir dispute occurred during a conversation with this correspondent on July 22, 2019, during the visit of the then Pakistani Prime Minister. Following this initial promise, India revoked the special status of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir, and the dispute remains unresolved.
Despite his assurances to address the Kashmir issue, President Trump failed to implement any diplomatic or practical measures during his first term.
After his role in halting hostilities between Pakistan and India and establishing a ceasefire, President Trump has once again offered to assist in resolving the Kashmir issue. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has expressed gratitude, while the Modi government and Indian media, as in the past, are expressing outrage and criticizing President Trump’s statement.
For us, these verbal and optimistic promises from Trump, lacking tangible actions, have brought a degree of satisfaction insofar as these statements temporarily placed the Kashmir issue at the center of international media attention, and caused shock and anger within India, which illegally occupies Kashmir.
