US Congressman apologises for Trump's 'embarrassing' remark on Kashmir

International News

An influential Democratic Congressman on Tuesday apologised to India's US envoy for President Donald Trump's "embarrassing" remarks on Kashmir, while several others came out in support of New Delhi's established stand against any third-party role on the issue.
"I just apologized to Indian Ambassador Harsh Shringla for Trump's amateurish and embarrassing mistake," Congressman Brad Sherman tweeted hours after Trump's stunning claim that Prime Minister Narendra Modi sought his mediation or arbitration efforts to resolve the Kashmir issue.
India quickly rejected his claims.
For the past 70 years, India has consistently resisted any third-party mediation proposal, and for over a decade now, the US has been reiterating that Kashmir is a bilateral issue.
"Everyone who knows anything about foreign policy in South Asia knows that #India consistently opposes third-party mediation re Kashmir. Everyone knows PM Modi would never suggest such a thing (sic)," tweeted Sherman, who has been closely following the development in South Asia for past few decades.
"Trump's statement is amateurish and delusional. And embarrassing, said Sherman who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Sub-Committee on Asia, the Pacific and Non-Proliferation.

 Later in the evening, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Alice Wells in a tweet said that Kashmir is a bilateral issue between India and Pakistan. "While Kashmir is a bilateral issue for both parties to discuss, the Trump administration welcomes Pakistan and India sitting down and the United States stands ready to assist," she tweeted...Read More

India-Pak talks futile unless terror infrastructure is destroyed: Haqqani

Company News

Supporting India's determination that "talks and terror" cannot go together, a former top Pakistan diplomat has said another high-level meeting between the two countries would be fruitless unless Islamabad ensures the terrorist infrastructure on its territory is dismantled.
Pakistan's recent initiatives for talks with India must be seen in the context of the economic and international pressures on it, former Pakistani ambassador to the United States Husain Haqqani told reporters here Tuesday.His remarks have come just ahead of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Summit in Kyrgyzstan on June 13-14. India and Pakistan are part of the regional security grouping and leaders of both the countries are set to attend the meeting in Bishkek.
In a letter written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi last week, Pakistan premier Imran Khan had requested resumption of talks between the two countries to resolve all differences.
But no meeting has been planned between them on the sidelines of the summit.
Haqqani's remarks also came on a day the government in Islamabad presented its national budget amid an austerity drive to wriggle the country out of the financial mess it is in.Earlier this month on Eid festival, Khan said there will be no increase in the defence budget because of "our critical financial situation". The defence budget presented Tuesday reflected that sentiment with no increase proposed in expenditure compared to last fiscal.

 Weeks ago, Khan's government negotiated a $6 billion bailout package with the International Monetary Fund to overcome the financial woes.Haqqani said another high-level meeting between India and Pakistan would be meaningless unless it is accompanied with dismantling of terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and giving up the notion of the two countries being "permanent enemies".