It was an artillery barrage from a sector that had quietened down. At a time when India was busy fighting a diplomatic battle against China and Pakistan’s joint effort to ‘internationalise’ Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370 and bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir, the likelihood of a fresh diplomatic salvo coming its way from the United States was perhaps not anticipated by policy planners.
The projectile is in the shape of a controversial description of the Kashmir dispute by President Donald Trump and with his renewed offer to mediate in India-Pakistan relations. Over the coming weeks, South Block mandarins will rack their brains over how to continue New Delhi’s engagement with Washington without opening another front.
On August 21, the perennially unpredictable Trump stoked South Asia’s roiling volatility while speaking to newsmen in Washington, describing India-Pakistan hostilities and their dispute over Kashmir as a “Hindu-Muslim” religious issue that has created an...
