US president Donald Trump described the current situation between India and Pakistan as “very, very bad” after last week’s terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama in which at least 40 CRPF soldiers lost their lives.
Trump added that the White House is in contact with both the countries and hoped hostilities would soon end in the Valley.
The US President told reporters at the Oval office that the current situation between Pakistan and India is very, very bad. A very dangerous situation. “We would like to see it (hostilities) stop. A lot of people were just killed. We want to see it just stop. We are very much involved in that process,” he said.
Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) has claimed responsibility for the attack.
“India is looking at something very strong. India just lost almost 50 people in the terror attack. I can understand that too,” Trump said.
“We are talking. A lot of people are. It’s going to be a very, very delicate balance. There is a lot of problems between India and Pakistan because of what just happened,” he added.
Trump also said that the US has improved ties with Pakistan and works are on for meetings with Pakistan leaders and officials. “I stopped paying Pakistan the $ 1.3 billion that we used to pay them. In the meantime, we may set up some meetings with Pakistan. Pakistan was taking very strong advantage of the US under other presidents. We were paying Pakistan $1.3 billion a year. I ended that payment, because they were not helping us in the way they should have,” Trump said.
The United Nations Security Council comprising 15 nations too condemned “in the strongest terms the heinous and cowardly suicide bombing by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama.
India has scrapped the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status allotted to Pakistan and imposed a 200% customs duty on its goods.
