New Delhi: US President Donald Trump late on Monday said a lot of progress has been made between India and Pakistan, without going into further details.
“I will see Prime Minister Narendra Modi and I will be meeting with India and Pakistan. I think a lot of progress is being made there,” Trump was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
Modi is in the US to attend the “Howdy Modi" event in Houston, Texas. The White House on Sunday said Trump will travel to Texas to attend the event, which will see an estimated 50,000 people of Indian origin and members of the Indian community in attendance.
India is also looking at a sit-down meeting with Trump, the venue for which could be Houston or New York or Washington.
It was not immediately clear from Trump’s statement where the meeting with leaders of India and Pakistan will take place. Both Modi and Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan are scheduled to address the UN general Assembly on 27 September and will be in New York next week.
Tensions between India and Pakistan have been running high since India, on 5 August, revoked a provision in its constitution that granted Kashmir special status, with Islamabad condemning the move. Pakistan downgraded diplomatic ties and cut of trade ties with India.
Trump offered to mediate between India and Pakistan on the Kashmir dispute on 22 July during a meeting with Pakistan prime minister Khan at the White House before the State Department back pedalled on the remarks. The US president again offered to mediate last month before being refused politely and firmly by Modi himself during a meeting with Trump in Biarritz on the sidelines of a G7 meeting.
