Trump Says India, Pak Fought For 1,000 Years; Remarks Made Amid Heightened Tensions Post-Pahalgam Attacks

New York: US President Donald Trump said on Friday that India and Pakistan have been fighting over Kashmir for “1,000 years”, and that tensions on the border have been ongoing for “1,500 years” — a statement that is laced with inaccuracies. Delhi reads the statement with a sense of relief, since he has not articulated any desire to mediate. US President Donald Trump has said there has always been tensions between India and Pakistan and the two countries will figure it out between themselves “one way or the other”.

Trump made these remarks on Friday after he was asked about the strain in ties between India and Pakistan in the wake of the Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 civilians. “I am very close to India and I’m very close to Pakistan, as you know. And they’ve had that fight for 1,000 years in Kashmir. Kashmir has been going on for 1,000 years, probably longer than that. And it was a bad one yesterday, though, that was a bad one. Over 30 people,” Trump said during a press conference.

There have been “tensions on that border for 1,500 years. So you know, the same as it’s been, but they’ll get it figured out one way or the other. I’m sure… I know both leaders. There is great tension between Pakistan and India. But there always has been”, he said.

In July 2019, in a statement that stirred the hornet’s nest on Kashmir, Trump had said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has asked him to play the role of a mediator on the Jammu and Kashmir issue. Within an hour of Trump’s statement, the Ministry of External Affairs’s then official spokesperson Raveesh Kumar contradicted the US President’s statement and said that “no such request has been made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi”.