By Sushil Kutty
The western Press is egging United States President Donald Trump to press India for third-party mediation in the Kashmir imbroglio roiling India-Pakistan relations, while at the same time asserting that Trump has put India, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a “tight spot”. Prime Minister Modi wasn’t asked for his opinion and is Trump capable of putting India in a “tight spot”, if at all!
The western media have little or no respect for India. They would rather romance Pakistan’s generals. “President Donald Trump wore a blue suit,” one western media reported. “And he has very light hair!” This is the western media we have to reckon with. And this is the ‘Trump’ who “helped broker” the alleged ceasefire in return for sweet trade deals!
President Trump thinks trade and tariffs will do for diplomacy, especially between nuclear-armed neighbours. Trump concluded that India and Pakistan would end hostilities if offered a leaf each from his dog-eared bestseller, the ‘Art of The Deal’. Talk of whims and fancies.
Prime Minister Modi responded with an “Address to the Nation” and rejected Trump’s Kashmir mediation offer as well as the “ceasefire”, with Modi’s officials saying there was only an “understanding”, while reminding Trump and Pakistan that ‘Operation Sindoor’ hadn’t been called off, only paused.
Modi’s ultimatums to both Pakistan and the United States are non-negotiable. Modi said ‘Operation Sindoor’ was the “new normal” and Kashmir remained an “integral part” of India, also non-negotiable. Trump can take his mediation dreams to bed, Trump’s rewards to Pakistan wouldn’t make a difference to India.
Besides, what can a “big fat bully” do? Does Trump take India for Ukraine, or Pakistan? It doesn’t matter who is Prime Minister of India, no United States President could dictate to India or speak for India, Trump’s trade and tariffs can go down the chute for all that India cared.
The Western media says Trump’s Kashmir pronouncement has broken the “taboo” associated with Kashmir, effectively stating that Pakistan’s claim on Kashmir is legit. How about Mexico’s claim on California? Will Trump take a leaf out of Pakistan’s Kashmir playbook and let India be the third party mediator?
India has not let any US President meddle in India’s internal affairs and Trump is not special. As for Pakistan, as far as India is concerned, the long-running dispute is done and dusted with, after the abrogation of Article 370. The only sore thumb standing is the return of Pakistan Occupied Kashmir.
The western Press should know that President Trump’s slipstream is littered with diplomatic garbage, from his forays into North Korean dictator Kim Jung Un’s inscrutable mind to his stingray attacks on Chinese President Xi Jinping; now with love-hate relationship with Ukraine President Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The only diplomacy that Trump does is yak-yak-yak. More often than not, he ends up playing bully. He did it with Canada, he tried it with Mexico, he got into it with Denmark over Greenland, with the European Union over NATO. Trump also attempted to intimidate the United Nations. The western media and President Trump must be daft to think that a “much, much stronger India” will succumb to pressure when a “much, much weaker India” did not!
First things first, the world should take away the ‘Truth Social’ button from Trump’s hands. It is like the nuclear button and Pak Army Chief Asim Munir. Both Trump and Munir can’t be trusted with buttons. Trump gets on to Truth Social with his impossible pronouncements and Munir’s nuclear doctrine is suicidal.
Right now Trump has his spirits up, but nobody in India asked him to broker a “full and immediate ceasefire”. In fact, Trump had no business butting into India’s affairs; more to the point in India’s internal affairs.
“I will work with you both to see if, after a thousand years, a solution can be arrived at, concerning Kashmir,” said the real-estate consultant-turned-POTUS. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has only himself to blame for this outrage. Modi gave Trump too long a rope to indulge and patronize India. Trump should be told to “get off” his high horse.
Trump might have delusions, but Trump is not the Sheriff of planet earth. And the USA isn’t without its own troubles. Prime Modi, in his address to the nation, said India will not succumb to “nuclear blackmail” and the message wasn’t only to Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif but also to United States President Donald Trump.
US mediators, including Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, should take care not to get lost in the rhetoric of “President Trump’s offer has put Delhi in a tight spot.” There are tighter spots India will be in if Prime Minister Modi succumbs to the United States’ “nuclear blackmail.” Americans and Pakistanis are the biggest liars in the diplomatic arena.
Pakistan has all along wanted “third-party mediation” and after the “four day war”, and Trump’s outrageous remarks, Islamabad cannot stop talking of Trump’s comments. “We also appreciate President Trump’s expressed willingness to support efforts aimed at the resolution of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute,” Pakistan said. “The issue has serious implications for peace and security in South Asia and beyond.”
Thing is, President Trump is not a serious candidate for mediator, whether it is for Kashmir or with regards to ending the Russia-Ukraine War. Trump’s outlandish claim to end the Israeli-Hamas conflict and turn Gaza into a riviera was proof Trump can’t be a fruit seller, forget peace negotiator. India should condemn Trump’s attempts to “internationalise” Kashmir.
The Congress party has sought an explanation from the Modi government, and an all-party meeting on the Trump-engineered ceasefire. Have the doors to third-party mediation been opened and have diplomatic channels between India and Pakistan reopened?
Secretary of State Rubio’s statement that the “two countries” have also agreed “to start talks on a broad set of issues at a neutral site” needs explanation. Final question, has President Donald Trump put India in a “tight spot” by internationalizing Kashmir without even a “May I?”
The US is India’s largest trading partner — $130 billion in 2024. Prime Minister Modi on Tuesday hiked certain tariffs in a tit for tat targeting the USA. All Indians should know of Trump’s self-serving demeanour. Give Trump a finger, and he will take the whole arm! Qatar offered President Trump to fly in a $400 million deluxe Qatari aircraft and Trump dumped his own Air Force One! That’s Trump. (IPA Service)
