During a press conference in Washington, US President Donald Trump said that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked him to mediate on the decades-long Kashmir dispute with Pakistan.
"He actually said, 'Would you like to be a mediator or arbitrator?' I said, 'Where?' He said, 'Kashmir.' Because this has been going on for many, many years," Trump said at the White House, where he was hosting Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday.
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In response, AlJazeera quoted Khan, who is on his first trip to the US as prime minister, told Trump he will have "the prayers a billion people" in the Indian subcontinent if he is able to resolve the Kashmir issue.
India however was quick to respond rejecting the US offer of mediation. Spokes person of the Indian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has also denied the claim that PM Modi requested Trump to mediate.
"We have seen @POTUS's remarks to the press that he is ready to mediate, if requested by India & Pakistan, on Kashmir issue. No such request has been made by PM @narendramodi to US President," India's foreign ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar posted on Twitter.
Some 70,000 people, mostly civilians, have died over the past 30 years in India-administered Kashmir, monitoring groups say.
Human rights organisations have claimed constant human rights abuses in Jammu and Kashmir, a disputed territory administered by India, including mass killings, forced disappearances, torture, rape and sexual abuse to political repression and suppression of freedom of speech.
UN human rights report on Kashmir in June 2018 has called for international inquiry into ongoing human rights violations and abuses in Jammu and Kashmir.
According to Rights Groups referred in Wikipedia; about “100,000 people have died since 1989 while the official figures from Indian sources state the estimates of number of civilians killed due to the insurgency in the range of 16,725 to 47,000”
The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) recently adopted a resolution on Jammu and Kashmir, condemning the “atrocities and human rights violations” in the state,
The resolution on Kashmir used phrases such as “Indian terrorism” and “mass blindings” by Indian security forces on protesting youth.
