Trump asks Pak PM to begin dialogue with India to resolve Kashmir

US President Donald Trump. Pic/AFP

In another diplomatic win for India, US President Donald Trump on Friday asked Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan to initiate dialogue with New Delhi to resolve the Kashmir issue. Trump and Khan held a telephonic conversation just few hours before the United Security Council meeting in New York.

"Today, President Donald Trump spoke with Prime Minister Imran Khan of Pakistan to discuss regional developments and to follow up on the Prime Minister's successful visit to Washington, D.C., last month," Deputy press secretary Hogan Gidley said in a statement.

"The President conveyed the importance of India and Pakistan reducing tensions through bilateral dialogue regarding the situation in Jammu and Kashmir," it added.

Following the conversation, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi told reporters in Islamabad that Khan has conveyed Pakistan's position to Trump.

He also said that direct contact had been established with four out of five permanent members of the council.

Despite all this, the China-Pakistan axis failed tonight at the UN Security Council (UNSC) closed-door meeting when a majority of the Council members refused to take up the Kashmir matter and rejected the Chinese position.

At the end of the closed-door meeting which was called by China at the behest of Pakistan, China and Pakistan stood isolated as a member after member refused to endorse their position.

Talking to reporters later, India's Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations Syed Akbaruddin said that matters related to Article 370 of Indian Constitution "were entirely an internal matter of India".

Referring to the UN representatives of China and Pakistan who addressed the media before him, Akbaruddin said the national statements were sought to be passed off as the will of the international community.

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