Face of Nation : Army Chief Gen Bipin Rawat on Tuesday said the armed forces are prepared to deal with any security challenge along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir, and downplayed reports of additional deployment by Pakistan in the area.
“The assessment is that should anything go wrong, we are prepared,” he said on the sidelines of an event when asked about the security situation along the LoC after India withdrew special status to Jammu and Kashmir and split the state into two union territories. On July 22, during his joint media appearance with Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan at the White House, President Trump stunned India by saying that Prime Minister Narendra Modi sought his mediation/arbitration on the Kashmir issue.
India asserted that no such request was made by Prime Minister Modi to the US president and all issues will have to be resolved with Islamabad bilaterally.
A week later, President Trump said he would “certainly intervene” between India and Pakistan on Kashmir if they wanted him to. He said it was up to India and Pakistan to resolve the Kashmir issue but he was ready to assist if the two South Asian neighbours wanted him to help in resolving the issue. India made it clear to America that any discussion on the issue, if at all warranted, will only be with Pakistan and only bilaterally.
Shringla said that America’s policy on Kashmir has been no mediation but to encourage the two South Asian neighbours to resolve their differences bilaterally including Kashmir, the pace and scope of which would be chosen by New Delhi and Islamabad. That has been the United States longstanding policy, he said in response to a question referring to America’s decades-old policy.
