Pakistan welcomes Trump’s offer to mediate ‘Kashmir issue’

New Delhi: Pakistan on Sunday welcomed US President Donald Trump’s offer to mediate between India and Pakistan on the ‘Kashmir issue’, which Islamabad described as a longstanding dispute with serious implications for peace and security in South Asia and beyond.

Earlier in the day, President Trump said he looked forward to working with both countries to find a resolution to the ‘Kashmir conflict’, which he referred to as ongoing for “a thousand years”. His remarks came a day after he announced that the US had brokered a ceasefire agreement between India and Pakistan.

Appreciating what it described as the “constructive role played by the United States” in the ceasefire talks, the Pakistan government in a statement, “We also appreciate President Trump’s expressed willingness to support efforts aimed at the resolution of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute – a longstanding issue that has serious implications for peace and security in South Asia and beyond”.

Islamabad further stressed that the government “reaffirms that any just and lasting settlement of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute must be in accordance with the relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions and must ensure the realisation of the fundamental rights of the Kashmiri people, including their inalienable right to self-determination”.